Preparing Children for the Twenty-First Century
The American Montessori Society identifies the following goals and outcomes for all students attending Montessori Schools. These are:
- Independence
- Social confidence and competence
- Academic Competence
- Autonomy
- Intrinsic motivation
- Social responsibility
- Spiritual awareness – understanding self
- Global citizenship
In addition, Montessori graduates site the following attributes as ones that are developed during their Montessori preschool and elementary years:
- Persistence
- Thinking and Communicating with Clarity and Precision
- Managing Impulsivity
- Gathering Data Through all Senses
- Listening with Understanding and Empathy
- Creating, Imaging and Innovation
- Thinking Flexibly
- Responding with Wonderment and Awe
- Thinking about Thinking (Metacognition)
- Taking Responsible Risks
- Striving for Accuracy
- Finding Humor
- Questioning and Posing Problems
- Thinking Interdependently
- Applying Past Knowledge to New Situations
Notable Montessori Graduates
- Joshua Bell, violinist
- Elizabeth Berridge, theater actor
- Jeffrey P. Bezos, founder of Amazon.com
- David Blaine, magician
- T. Berry Brazelton, pediatrician and author
- Mathew Bronsil, puppeteer and comedian
- Julia Child, chef
- Chelsea Clinton
- George Clooney, Academy Award-winning actor
- Kami Cotler, actor
- Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, rapper and CEO of Bad Boy Records
- Peter Drucker, management guru
- Dakota Fanning, actor
- Anne Frank, writer
- Melissa Gilbert, actor/director
- Sara Gilbert, actor
- Katherine Graham, owner/editor of the Washington Post
- Freidensrich Hundertwasser, painter and architect
- Helen Hunt, Academy Award-winning actor
- Beyonce Knowles, singer/songwriter, actrice and fashion designer
- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, nobel prize winning writer
- Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, editor for Doubleday
- Larry Page and Sergey Brin, founders of Google.com
- Alan Ricman, actor and theater director
- Lea Salonga, singer and Broadway actress
- Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia
- William Wright, video game designer (The Sims)
- Princes William and Harry of Wales
- Princess Euginie of York