“One toddler would stand there and cry and say the same word over and over again,” Mr. Richardson said. “We learned later that she was yelling for her mom, but at the time we didn’t know. We couldn’t understand her enough to help her.”
The fact they started working with toddlers who don’t speak English without any staff who know Mandarin or had training with ESL students seems irresponsible. For 4k a month?!
And then when that didn’t work out “Parents were notified of this Montessori-to-A.I. switch just weeks before the start of a new school year. In California, Cecille Matsuo received an email inviting her to transfer her two children to Alpha for $50,000 per child.”
These are not responsible or thoughtful people. The fact they’re just running new schools now is unfortunate.
I’m no educator but if a toddler was crying and repeating the same word again and again my first idea would be to call their parents. But it’s just me.
RIGHT?? We sign at home (basic baby sign) and when the infant teacher recognized repeated motions with baby’s frustration, but didn’t know what it was, she asked! I went over a few and she was so happy to learn and it smoothed things over.
I can’t imagine seeing a kid in distress repeatedly and…ignoring it??
In this particular case, this might not have anything to do with the school.
In my family, we’ve done I speak my native language and my wife speaks her language. My wife’s native language is the language of the community, so my kid didn’t have any difficulty transitioning to pre-school.
However, research consistently shows that a kid will learn the community language and the question is whether they’ll learn the minority language. Because of that, it’s really common in multilingual families to really emphasize the community language at home. If the parents are both Mandarin speakers, that can mean really limited exposure to English before school. Kids normally end up pretty fluent in the community language quickly.
I actually did this in pre-school at age four, and became very comfortable in the community language in a year; my son goes to a bilingual school in both my wife and my languages and by the end of the year all his classmates were speaking to me in the minority language even if they had no exposure to it first. I imagine the first days can be rough, and having someone bilingual there sometimes can certainly aid the transition, but this sounds like a parent choice, rather than a school choice.
The rest of what they did is garbage, don’t get me wrong. I’ve been vaguely following this story for more than a year through the /r/montessori subreddit and elsewhere. I’m glad this story is being told and it’s crazy to me that this dude is still in early childhood education
A similar thing happened to me! Decades ago though lol. I didn’t speak English when I was first put in pre-school and they didn’t have anyone who spoke my native language instead. I eventually picked up English but it was tough :( I didn’t learn to read/write in English until kindergarten even though I was reading in my native language earlier than that.
I think the reality is that all daycare/preschool is crazy expensive (unless government subsidized). The article presents it as though this is luxury purchase but honestly $2000 a month per kid is normal (maybe slightly low) for most cities. Plus the wait lists for most daycares are many months long.
I agree folks were bamboozled by the “Montessori” branding and probably thought they were getting professional teachers. But really they were likely just glad to get a spot at a daycare.
Yeah, I live in a MCOL area (although I think our daycare prices are a little higher than other items, due to staffing rules, which is a good thing). The preschool classroom at my kids daycare is currently $380/week, or just over $1600 a month, when you account for 52 weeks in a year. I have local friends that pay higher daycare tuition than I do. For a preschool that functions as daycare - lessons, but open for at least 9 hours a day - $2000 is not outrageous in most parts of the USA.
"Yes, his company had collapsed. Yes, children had lost their schools and their teachers. But, he argued, one of the reasons Guidepost had grown so big so quickly — and investors had been willing to give him so much money — was that it offered a service that was desperately needed."
The service needed was quality education. It may have been offered, but clearly wasn't provided. Had it been, the company might still be going.
Also: "Mr. Girn wrote in a text message this month that he’d created “an incredible business model that is unfortunately very misunderstood,"" is giving "concepts of a plan."
CeramicLicker | 15 hours ago
“One toddler would stand there and cry and say the same word over and over again,” Mr. Richardson said. “We learned later that she was yelling for her mom, but at the time we didn’t know. We couldn’t understand her enough to help her.”
The fact they started working with toddlers who don’t speak English without any staff who know Mandarin or had training with ESL students seems irresponsible. For 4k a month?!
And then when that didn’t work out “Parents were notified of this Montessori-to-A.I. switch just weeks before the start of a new school year. In California, Cecille Matsuo received an email inviting her to transfer her two children to Alpha for $50,000 per child.”
These are not responsible or thoughtful people. The fact they’re just running new schools now is unfortunate.
TheAskewOne | 14 hours ago
I’m no educator but if a toddler was crying and repeating the same word again and again my first idea would be to call their parents. But it’s just me.
Shrilly_Shally | 9 hours ago
I feel like if a kid is saying mama (Mandarin for mom), it should be pretty damn obvious.
alicevirgo | 4 hours ago
That's what I was wondering. Of all words in Mandarin, mama is the most translatable one. Maybe the kid was only saying, "Ma"?
Traditional-Ad-3889 | 13 hours ago
RIGHT?? We sign at home (basic baby sign) and when the infant teacher recognized repeated motions with baby’s frustration, but didn’t know what it was, she asked! I went over a few and she was so happy to learn and it smoothed things over.
I can’t imagine seeing a kid in distress repeatedly and…ignoring it??
yodatsracist | 12 hours ago
In this particular case, this might not have anything to do with the school.
In my family, we’ve done I speak my native language and my wife speaks her language. My wife’s native language is the language of the community, so my kid didn’t have any difficulty transitioning to pre-school.
However, research consistently shows that a kid will learn the community language and the question is whether they’ll learn the minority language. Because of that, it’s really common in multilingual families to really emphasize the community language at home. If the parents are both Mandarin speakers, that can mean really limited exposure to English before school. Kids normally end up pretty fluent in the community language quickly.
I actually did this in pre-school at age four, and became very comfortable in the community language in a year; my son goes to a bilingual school in both my wife and my languages and by the end of the year all his classmates were speaking to me in the minority language even if they had no exposure to it first. I imagine the first days can be rough, and having someone bilingual there sometimes can certainly aid the transition, but this sounds like a parent choice, rather than a school choice.
The rest of what they did is garbage, don’t get me wrong. I’ve been vaguely following this story for more than a year through the /r/montessori subreddit and elsewhere. I’m glad this story is being told and it’s crazy to me that this dude is still in early childhood education
pastelkawaiibunny | 3 hours ago
A similar thing happened to me! Decades ago though lol. I didn’t speak English when I was first put in pre-school and they didn’t have anyone who spoke my native language instead. I eventually picked up English but it was tough :( I didn’t learn to read/write in English until kindergarten even though I was reading in my native language earlier than that.
smellslikebadussy | 6 hours ago
Two words, like a beacon, appeared before me and made the way this happened clear: Ayn Rand
falling_fire | an hour ago
Klaxons appeared before me when I reached her name in the text... jumpscare
LightsLux | 16 hours ago
I’m amazed how much these parents would shill for preschool education without investigating anything that went into it.
ScaryPearls | 4 hours ago
I think the reality is that all daycare/preschool is crazy expensive (unless government subsidized). The article presents it as though this is luxury purchase but honestly $2000 a month per kid is normal (maybe slightly low) for most cities. Plus the wait lists for most daycares are many months long.
I agree folks were bamboozled by the “Montessori” branding and probably thought they were getting professional teachers. But really they were likely just glad to get a spot at a daycare.
DeeperEnd84 | an hour ago
Meanwhile we pay about 300 euros a month for two kids' daycare in socialist Finland.
VividlyNonSpecific | 50 minutes ago
Yeah, I live in a MCOL area (although I think our daycare prices are a little higher than other items, due to staffing rules, which is a good thing). The preschool classroom at my kids daycare is currently $380/week, or just over $1600 a month, when you account for 52 weeks in a year. I have local friends that pay higher daycare tuition than I do. For a preschool that functions as daycare - lessons, but open for at least 9 hours a day - $2000 is not outrageous in most parts of the USA.
DiplomaticCaper | 5 hours ago
There were people who enrolled their kids in Kanye’s school, sight unseen.
falling_fire | an hour ago
"Yes, his company had collapsed. Yes, children had lost their schools and their teachers. But, he argued, one of the reasons Guidepost had grown so big so quickly — and investors had been willing to give him so much money — was that it offered a service that was desperately needed."
The service needed was quality education. It may have been offered, but clearly wasn't provided. Had it been, the company might still be going.
Also: "Mr. Girn wrote in a text message this month that he’d created “an incredible business model that is unfortunately very misunderstood,"" is giving "concepts of a plan."