What is Montessori?

Last Saturday, Slate's Emily Bazelon, the mother of a child in an Montessori pre-school wrote an article titled "The Cult of the Pink Tower: Montessori turns 100—what the hell is it?" She stated that "In many ways, Montessori education remains a cult: No one outside the fold (and lots of families inside it) really knows what exactly it is." So I will now reveal the secret; there's much to explain, in terms of pedagogical technique, but here's the deep philosophy of Montessori education. Montessori is not for everyone, but I believe that the world would be a much better and kinder place if every family had the opportunity to choose a Montessori school....