“This classroom is just the beginning.”
If you’re not familiar with Jeff Bezos’ broader plans in education, to open more and more “Montessori-inspired preschools in underserved communities” — $1 billion worth of them — then you may want to see his original post about it all:
Bezos was actually a Montessori child himself, attending a Montessori preschool in Albuquerque, New Mexico in the mid 1960s.
“I went to Montessori school [for] about a year and a half, starting probably at age 2 1/2. ... I have these very clear visual images of tracing out letters on sandpaper. I remember having a little special board that you can use to practice tying your shoes.”
Montessori Shoelaces Frame
Montessori Sandpaper Letters
Jeff Bezos’ mom once shared a funny anecdote about her son’s Montessori experience:
“[He] would get so engrossed in his activities as a Montessori preschooler that his teachers would literally have to pick him up out of his chair to go to the next task.”
Bezos is in good company as a Montessori alum. Here are just a few other standout former Montessori children: Google founders Sergey Brin & Larry Page, Nobel prize winner Gabriel García Márquez, master game designer Will Wright Wright, and NBA superstar Steph Curry.
“I benefited from [my] Montessori education, which in some ways gives the students a lot more freedom to do things at their own pace, to discover… Some of the credit for the willingness to go on your own interests, you can tie that back to that Montessori education.”
A message to Jeff Bezos
With the near opening of your first preschool inspired by Montessori, we’d like to say thank you and cheers to your great investment in children … and therefore in all of us. For as Maria Montessori once said: “Within the child lies the fate of the future.”
🌎 🙏 🥂 🌍
For those who don’t know much about what Montessori actually is, this is for you:
For more, check out The Montessori Education Podcast.