There are many familiar names on the long list of Montessori elite jokingly named “The Montessori Mafia”. Jeff Bezos, Dakota Fanning, Anne Frank, Helen Hunt, Helen Keller, Beyonce Knoles, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Taylor Swift, Julia Child, George Clooney, Sergey Brin and Larry Page are just a few famous Montessori alumni, many of whom credit their Montessori education for their success. The Wall Street Journal published an article in 2011 titled “The Montessori Mafia” that discussed the possible correlation between the Montessori method of learning, a student centered learning method where creativity, critical thinking skills and exploration are valued, and many of the very successful innovative entrepreneurs and creative elite. “…the Montessori educational approach might be the surest route to joining the creative elite, which are so overrepresented by the school’s alumni that one might suspect a Montessori Mafia…,” wrote Peter Sims with The Wall Street Journal.
To read this article and see more of the names that appear on the list of Montessori alumni, click on http://www.postoakschool.org/postoak/Montessori_Students_List.asp.
“Montessori taught me the joy of discovery…It showed you can become interested in pretty complex theories, like Pythagorean theory, say, by playing with blocks. It’s all about learning on your terms, rather than a teacher explaining stuff to you. SimCity comes right out of Montessori—if you give people this model for building cities, they will abstract from it principles of urban design.” ~Will Wright, Computer Game Designer and Original Designer of The Sims
