Can Montessori be the answer?

You know that I think the best teaching method out there is a pure Montessori approach. It focuses on how children learn, rather than on how union educators think teachers ought to teach, and instills in children a lifelong love of learning, and a depth of understanding that’s foreign to most American children.

Perhaps Montessori could also be the answer to Islamism run amok. Okay, I know that’s silly thinking, but I couldn’t help thinking about it when I read about the tough-talking, Morocco born, Muslim mayor of a immigrant rich suburb in Amsterdam (emphasis below mine):

For one Amsterdam mayor, the Netherlands’ famous tolerance has gone too far. Morrocan-born Ahmed Marcouch is taking the tough cop approach in a rough Amsterdam neighborhood, pushing his fellow immigrants to integrate. But some consider him a traitor.

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Ahmed Marcouch grew up in this environment, but he has since made a better life for himself. He was illiterate when he came to the Netherlands from Morocco at the age of 10, but he was lucky enough to encounter a teacher at a progressive Montessori school who helped him get on track.

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But since the Van Gogh murder, the gedogen principle no longer applies — at least in Slotervaart, a change that is in no small part due to the mayor’s efforts. Marcouch, a former police officer, experienced at first hand the unrest that followed the Van Gogh murder. He wasn’t a softie like some of his colleagues, who routinely looked the other way when rowdy mobs swaggered through the streets. He took a hard line when he believed it was necessary, which was the case more often than not. And a tougher police approach is suddenly popular with the no-longer-quite-so-relaxed Dutch.

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Marcouch, on the other hand [in contrast to the Dutch government, which talks, but doesn’t do], is doing something. He has instructed his officials to conduct one-on-one interviews with young unemployed residents to help them find ways to make a fresh start. Especially tough cases are referred directly to Marcouch.

Although he has no authority over the Amsterdam police force, Marcouch has set up a rapid response team of social workers which constantly patrols the streets on bicycles to defuse hostilities and catch young criminals red-handed.

Marcouch’s brief tenure to date has already left its mark in Slotervaart, where the crime rate has dropped and there is significantly less trash on the streets. “When there’s a lack of cooperation, we have to give them a bit of a push — with force, if necessary,” he says.