Author and pilot Trevor Eissler will fly into Santa Barbara on March 11 to discuss and share his perspective on education throughout the United States.
For the past 15 years, Eissler, a business jet pilot and flight instructor, has taught hundreds of pilots, from beginners to professional pilots, and in the process has developed keen insights into learning and education.
Eissler’s presentation will include analysis of public and private schools, and how improvements in education might be achieved. More homework? Better-qualified teachers? Longer school days, or a longer school year?
Eissler wrote Montessori Madness! to explain why he feels the incremental steps politicians and administrators continue to propose are steps in the wrong direction. Eissler suggests in his book that the entire educational system needs to be turned on its head.
Open to the public, Eissler’s presentation is hosted by Santa Barbara Montessori School, and will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the school’s Alumni Hall, 7421 Mirano Drive in Goleta.
Admission is $10 each; those who already have purchased Montessori Madness! will be admitted free.
Eissler spoke in February at a national convention of Montessori teachers and administrators in Jacksonville, Fla. Santa Barbara Montessori School’s head of school, Jim Fitzpatrick, attended the presentation.
“He laid out his plan to produce and purchase airtime for a $3 million television commercial to be broadcast next year during the Super Bowl,” Fitzpatrick said. “It was entertaining; he attempted to convince hundreds of Montessorians that a Super Bowl television commercial is just what is needed to bring about substantive change in education throughout the United States.
“I don’t know if he’ll be discussing the Super Bowl commercial on Thursday night, but he’s a very effective speaker, and definitely has some creative ideas about how schools can be improved.”
— Jim Fitzpatrick is the head of school at Santa Barbara Montessori School.