What if we were to set aside the noise of failing schools, teacher evaluations, test scores, achievement gaps, and funding issues — and ask, instead, what is the true goal of education?

Building the Pink Tower looks at education differently. Through the lens of Montessori education — now more than 100 years old — we see how families and educators have embraced schools as a place for creative learning, problem solving, collaboration, and community building. We follow children as they discover their love of learning through exploration of beautiful, carefully prepared classroom environments. We come to see that the essence of the Montessori approach is nothing new, but rather takes us back to our simple shared desire to understand the world around us.

We enter the lives of children as they experience Montessori education in classrooms ranging from pre-school through high school. From the backyard of an urban housing project, to a farm in Wisconsin, to an innovative charter high school, we come to understand what works in education and what families want for their children, regardless of race, culture, or income. And, we see how essential children are in building their own powerful learning experiences.

Building the Pink Tower is a feature-length documentary film that opens our eyes to what Montessori education means today. With the help of educators, neuroscientists, families, and children, it answers our most challenging questions about what children need.

Most of all, Building the Pink Tower will allow us to see how the building blocks of rigorous teacher training, carefully prepared environments, deep respect of children, and warm and inclusive communities, fit together to support children in our changing world.

From this solid base, we can work to build education that inspires children and prepares them for life.

What is the Pink Tower?

The Pink Tower is a an important Montessori material at the Children's House (three to six year old) level.  The ten wood cubes painted pink allow young children to develop coordination and understand dimension as they build the tower, from the largest cube to the smallest.  

The working title of our project, Building the Pink Tower, takes its inspiration from this material.  We are inspired, like the young children in a Montessori classroom, to build a beautiful story, and learn something along the way.