In American public schools, children sit still, listening to a teacher, for seven or more hours a day. Students are often denied the opportunity to go to the bathroom, move around, or even speak openly in class. Spending long days “without any freedom is psychologically harmful for many students” (Gray). Because “children are required to attend school, where their freedom is severely limited,” they begin to resent learning because they associate it with discomfort and discouragement (Grey). In a Montessori classroom, the focus is more on students working independently with necessary guidance, rather than as a group being taught. Students work for “long, interrupted periods of time” (Israelson). During these periods, students can move around as they please and work as they wish in whatever activity they choose. Many “Montessori programs may have large classes” with multiple age groups in one class (Israelson). Montessori schools can have “children from up to three grades in one classroom” (Israelson). This classroom structure benefits students because younger children can learn from older children, and older children have the opportunity to be role models or leaders and often help younger students understand what the teacher wants them to learn