Identity and Diversity
By Libby House, Executive Director
Grace Montessori School, Allentown
In a book titled Learning from School Choice, authors Peterson and Hassel make the observation, “Stronger self-esteem produced by strong identity is associated with greater tolerance for others.” It is interesting that these three characteristics are so closely related and so mutually reinforcing.
Both the Montessori Method and the Episcopal Church of America embrace and celebrate diversity andpromote tolerance and inclusion. The principles of both Dr. Maria Montessori and Grace Episcopal Church, as a part of The Episcopal Church, are at the heart of Grace Montessori School where those beliefs play out each day as our classrooms serve as models for inclusion, acceptance, and tolerance, for respect of the individual child and development of self-esteem and self-identity.
By Libby House, Executive Director
Grace Montessori School, Allentown
In a book titled Learning from School Choice, authors Peterson and Hassel make the observation, “Stronger self-esteem produced by strong identity is associated with greater tolerance for others.” It is interesting that these three characteristics are so closely related and so mutually reinforcing.
Both the Montessori Method and the Episcopal Church of America embrace and celebrate diversity andpromote tolerance and inclusion. The principles of both Dr. Maria Montessori and Grace Episcopal Church, as a part of The Episcopal Church, are at the heart of Grace Montessori School where those beliefs play out each day as our classrooms serve as models for inclusion, acceptance, and tolerance, for respect of the individual child and development of self-esteem and self-identity.
Both the Montessori Method and the Episcopal Church also have at their
cores a commitment to social justice. In 1907 Dr. Montessori founded
her first school, a Children’s House located in the midst of slum
redevelopment in the city of Rome. The Episcopal Church, in adopting
the United Nations Millennium Goals and through its long history of
working for equality and peace, stands for the Gospel message to feed
the poor, release the oppressed, and reach out to those at the bottom
of the social pyramid. These beliefs then - strong identity and
self-esteem, tolerance, acceptance, inclusion, and diversity, along
with equality and social justice - form the bedrock of our school, the
values upon which our organization was founded and has grown.
This year 39 percent of our students identify themselves as Non-Hispanic Whites; 31 percent Asians; 18 percent Hispanic Whites; 10 percent Black; and 2 percent Pacific Islanders. They are Jewish, Christian, Hare Krishna, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, and Buddhist. They speak Arabic, Spanish, Tamil, Kutchi, Bengali, Hindi, Punjabi, Korean, Mandarin, and Gujarati. Our faculty and administration are similarly diverse in cultural ethnicity and religion.
Because of Grace Church’s social justice imperative, 30 percent of our students attend Grace Montessori School with scholarship assistance. In this way we encourage and ensure the kind of socio-economic diversity not often found in other Montessori schools which tend to attract families from various cultural and ethnic backgrounds but are known to cater to the wealthy. Grace Montessori School provides high quality Montessori education at a price that middle and working class families can afford, far less than most other Montessori schools, because of the social justice mission we embrace. We pay our teachers good salaries and provide them with health insurance and a pension plan because The Episcopal Church insists that all its employees receive fair pay and benefits equal to those of its clergy.
The school’s identity - its reason for having been brought into existence, its reason for being, its moral and ethical principles, how it decides on its business model, what tuition it charges, what salaries and benefits it elects to pay, the character of the people it hires and retains, its commitment to the poor and to the problems of the inner city, its insistence on respect for the value of all people, all religions, all cultures – comes from the core beliefs of the institution that owns it, Grace Church. Its whole child approach to education in classrooms with credentialed teachers, multi-age student groupings, a prepared environment with diverse Montessori materials, a schedule that allows for problem-solving, and an atmosphere that encourages peace, morality, compassion, grace, a love of learning, cooperation, mutual respect, and developing self-esteem are at the heart of the Montessori philosophy that guides our program. We are indeed fortunate to have the great principles of both of these great traditions at the core of our school’s identity.
We hope all our parents will join with us in a celebration of our strong identity and wide diversity this year on November 7th at Sayre Hall at the Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem when we hold our fifth annual Heritage Day Celebration, a day when we demonstrate all of our wonderful differences and all that we hold in common: our respect for peace and the fundamental values of freedom, equality, acceptance, shared responsibility, and respect for nature and the universe.
This year 39 percent of our students identify themselves as Non-Hispanic Whites; 31 percent Asians; 18 percent Hispanic Whites; 10 percent Black; and 2 percent Pacific Islanders. They are Jewish, Christian, Hare Krishna, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, and Buddhist. They speak Arabic, Spanish, Tamil, Kutchi, Bengali, Hindi, Punjabi, Korean, Mandarin, and Gujarati. Our faculty and administration are similarly diverse in cultural ethnicity and religion.
Because of Grace Church’s social justice imperative, 30 percent of our students attend Grace Montessori School with scholarship assistance. In this way we encourage and ensure the kind of socio-economic diversity not often found in other Montessori schools which tend to attract families from various cultural and ethnic backgrounds but are known to cater to the wealthy. Grace Montessori School provides high quality Montessori education at a price that middle and working class families can afford, far less than most other Montessori schools, because of the social justice mission we embrace. We pay our teachers good salaries and provide them with health insurance and a pension plan because The Episcopal Church insists that all its employees receive fair pay and benefits equal to those of its clergy.
The school’s identity - its reason for having been brought into existence, its reason for being, its moral and ethical principles, how it decides on its business model, what tuition it charges, what salaries and benefits it elects to pay, the character of the people it hires and retains, its commitment to the poor and to the problems of the inner city, its insistence on respect for the value of all people, all religions, all cultures – comes from the core beliefs of the institution that owns it, Grace Church. Its whole child approach to education in classrooms with credentialed teachers, multi-age student groupings, a prepared environment with diverse Montessori materials, a schedule that allows for problem-solving, and an atmosphere that encourages peace, morality, compassion, grace, a love of learning, cooperation, mutual respect, and developing self-esteem are at the heart of the Montessori philosophy that guides our program. We are indeed fortunate to have the great principles of both of these great traditions at the core of our school’s identity.
We hope all our parents will join with us in a celebration of our strong identity and wide diversity this year on November 7th at Sayre Hall at the Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem when we hold our fifth annual Heritage Day Celebration, a day when we demonstrate all of our wonderful differences and all that we hold in common: our respect for peace and the fundamental values of freedom, equality, acceptance, shared responsibility, and respect for nature and the universe.
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