Jay Mathews of the Washington Post starts 2007 in a position he's often in, which is way ahead of the competition. Mathews' notes that on the 100th anniversary of Italian physician Maria Montessori opening her first pre-kindergarten, the philosophy is picking up momentum in the U.S. There are about 5,000 Montessori schools nationwide, about 300 of them public. Mathews says Montessori and John Dewey, the Teachers College colossus, were the two most influential 20th-century promoters of a "progressive," child-centered approach to learning. He says Montessori had a much bigger impact because she started schools.

I take issue with a couple points Mathews' makes. He says that the "unstructured" nature of Montessori classrooms is at odds with the "structured" classrooms common today. And he quotes a scholar who says that Montessori believed that kids learned best when they were active and having fun. The implication, then, is that "structured" classrooms, in other words, classrooms where the teacher plays an important role, cannot be fun nor active. I think journalists should keep in mind that the best teachers, especially in pre-kindergarten, have classrooms that are highly structured and intentional. But structure doesn't have to mean regimentation or boredom. Good teachers use structure--of time use, regular one-on-one interactions and lots of conversation--to support and encourage active learning. John Dewey also believed in active learning. But he said that activity for the sake of activity is worthless. Activities, he said, had to be "educative" to be of value. And that implies activities that are carefully planned and, yes, structured.