These pages are provided for educators and students to explore the ideas of liberty, Socratic dialogue, and the theories of Maria Montessori, and their application to the classroom.
About Education and Liberty
The goal of Education and Liberty is to explore the connections among Socratic inquiry, classical liberalism, Montessori pedagogy and Austrian economics.
We believe that there are two indispensable elements for unleashing the human potential.
The first element is the need to consistently practice the highest respect and love for all individuals at every level of social interaction: in personal relationships, in management, in the classroom, and in civil society at large. This implies the need for peace, non-violence, tolerance, freedom of thought and expression, the respect of what properly belongs to others, and the freedom of voluntary association.
The second indispensable element is an unswerving dedication to the search for what is beautiful, good, and true. This search requires perseverance, creativity, humility, empathy, honesty with self and others, willingness to question and be questioned, and the attempt to articulate and give reasons for what we think and believe.
Rachel Davison
Rachel Davison graduated from the great books, liberal arts program at St. John’s College, Annapolis in 2008. In 2007 she was a Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow in Non-Profit Leadership working with the Institute for Humane Studies, George Mason University. She recently was an instructor at an AMI Montessori Adolescent Program in Austin, TX. She currently teaches Introduction to Fine Arts and History at a classical great books charter school in Phoenix. Rachel is also working on publishing her first children’s book, “Adam’s Coat: A Retelling”, in which a six-year old Adam Smith learns how a coat is made.
Andrew Humphries
Andrew Humphries is a Montessori high school teacher at School of the Woods in Houston, TX. He graduated from the great books, liberal arts program at St. John’s College, Santa Fe in 2007. Andrew was a Koch Summer Fellow intern at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Michigan in 2007 where he worked on education policy. He has also interned at the Henry Hazlitt Center at the University Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala and the Institute of Economic Affairs in London. Andrew is currently enrolled in a Masters of Education program in Montessori Integrative Learning from Endicott College, Mass. and is in the process of acquiring his Montessori Secondary I and II certification from the Houston Montessori Center. He facilitates the Houston chapter of Socrates Café and enjoys learning about philosophy, science, education and economics.
Disclaimer
The views expressed on this blog are those of the authors alone and are not endorsed by any of the organizations they are associated with or by any organization mentioned on this website.
