1. The Humanistic Tradition
Early Education as we know it is typically thought of as having
originated in Europe in the early 1800's. That said, many of the
values and practices we incorporate into modern-day programs
have deep roots in ancient philosophy, such as that of Plato and
Aristotle, religious leaders, and a generational tradition that has
passed down through families over the centuries.
Most of today's educational programs are based on a humanistic approach: 'a system of
thought that reflects concern for the values, potential, well-being, and interests of human beings."
(Feeny, Moravcik, Nolte, Christensen 2010) This all-encompassing philosophy was slow to
take, and its original creators were considered by many to be radical, unorthodox, and
conspicuous. Our ideas about children have drastically changed in a relatively short
amount of time. Children were once considered 'little adults', and that childhood was a
waiting room of sorts, a necessary stage a human was required to work through before
reaching adulthood. Physical punishment, repetitive, rote learning, and harsh treatment of
children were very common, and education was limited only to the children of the very
wealthy. Now, however, we commonly believe and practice that childhood is a worthy,
important stage that deserves as much respect as adulthood, and should not be rushed
through, and that every child deserves opportunities for learning.
Childcare in the United States
Prior to the Industrial revolution, most women were able to keep children close to home to
help with domestic duties or the family trade or business. Children helped with farm work,
or in some occasions were sent to a "dame school", a place where an older woman would
gather children to teach them their three R's: Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic. As the
Industrial Revolution changed the landscape of America, so too did the needs for
childcare, especially for poor working families. Since many women were forced to choose
between leaving children home alone or not working and seeking charity from the
community, the need for childcare rose, as people in many communities chose not to give
money or food any longer. Many women were given no choice but to enter into the work
force, working in work-houses, factories, or in some cases, caring for wealthier families
children, sending their own children to work as indentured servants for other families, or
left their children on the streets or even locked up indoors during the day.
Quaker women in Philadelphia offered a solution for some of these women and children,
by founding the Society for the Relief and Employment of the Poor. A house was built by
the society that would provide religious education for children while their mothers worked
in another section of the house. The Boston Infant school is another early example of the
convergence and application of ideas related to childcare and education in the US. Modeled
after Robert Owen's British Infant Schools, philanthropist women provided care to
children of working mothers. In the 1830's, several other schools opened up throughout
the US. By 1850, h0wever, the idea that women should stay home with their children had
permeated societies beliefs, ignoring the reasons the schools were in place to begin with.
Though the schools did not last, the schools offered help to the thousands of new

2. immigrants arriving in the United States. The New York Nursery for Children of Poor
Women's mission was to provide care for the children of women forced to provide for their
families. These were privately run programs that allowed new immigrants working in
urban families to keep their families together. Most of the workers in these programs were
untrained and worked long hours with many children, but were still a better alternative
than leaving children at home or worse, on the street. The goals of these programs were
focused on the general health of the children and not the intellectual development or
education.
Inspired by the American Kindergarten movement, Pauline Agassiz Shaw established a day
nursery with an educational focus in 1878 Boston. Many other centers followed Shaw's
example, providing care for long hours with educational activities, comprehensive
services, family education and training, and counseling, although most did not service the
very young children. In the 1880's, Frances Willard attempted to meet this need by
establishing the Women's Christian Temperance Union. Her day nurseries were offered
free of charge to poor mothers, but were not open to all racial and ethnic groups and never
to children of unwed mothers. This discrimination left many mothers with no other option
than to send their children to orphanages or in unsatisfactory arrangements in strangers
homes. The 1890's ushered in the National Association of Colored Women, which
established day nurseries serving urban African American families and children. The
1800's saw a number of experiments in childcare, enabling many women to avoid the
depths of poverty by working outside of the home. Childcare was generally regarded as a
last-resort measure only to be utilized in the most dire of emergencies and circumstances.
During the Great Depression, the US government operated federal childcare centers,
providing relief work for teachers, custodians, cooks, nurses, and others who had lost their
jobs and desperately needed employment. Unfortunately, these programs ended as soon as
the Depression lifted. Similar programs re-emerged again during World War II, when
many of the nation's women began working in the factories supporting the military
stationed overseas. The Lanham Act of 1942-1946 provided federally funded child care
centers in 41 states. Similar to the employer-sponsored childcare systems of Europe,
programs like the Kaiser centers, which provided childcare for employees of the Kaiser
shipyards in Portland, Oregon provided comprehensive, high quality services and care to
children aged 18 months to 6 years old. Kaiser made a commitment to providing the best
services possible to both children and families. Louis Meek Stolz, an Early Childhood
Expert who directed the Child Development Institute and Columbia University was hired
as a director, and James L Hymes Jr., a graduate of the Child Development Institute was
hired as the manager of the Kaiser programs. Specially trained early-childhood teachers
were hired, and the building was even specially designed by an architect to serve young
children. The centers were open 24 hours a day, 364 days per year (save for Christmas),
and included an infirmary, provided meals for mothers to take home, and offered other
services to families who worked in the defense industry. During their short span of service,
Kaiser served nearly 4,000 children.
Once the war ended and women returned home with their children, the centers closed
down, but their example hold strong today. A common post-war belief that women and
children belonged at home and that children of working mothers suffered from a lack of
maternal care slowly began to change when the landscape of the 'typical' American family
began to change around the 1950's and 60's. As families moved further away from their

3. own extended families, divorce became more and more common, and women began
finding meaningful work outside of the home, the face of childcare began to slowly change
into what we now have today, a merging of both care and education.
Froebel's Kindergarten
Friedrich Wilhelm Froebel (1782-1852)
Froebel established the very first Kindergarten program in Germany in 1837. Froebel's
views on education centered on the importance of play, games, and toys in the intellectual,
spiritual, and social development of children, as inspired partly by his study of Comenius.
Eventually he developed aa philosophy and program of education for children aged 4-6
that was meant to serve as a transition between home and school, infancy and childhood.
Since his philosophy was to nurture and protect children, shielding them from outside
influence (such as plants might be nurtured and sheltered in a garden), it was natural to
call his school Kinder-Garten...or literally, Children's Garden. To this day, programs for 5
and some 6 year olds are called Kindergarten. Like his predecessors, Froebel believed
children were social creatures, and learning was the most natural and efficient through
activity and play was an essential part of learning. He believed that teaching methods
between a younger and older child ought to be vastly different, and wished for children to
have the chance to explore their positive whims.
Froebel recognized three forms of learning. !. Knowledge of forms of life, including
gardening, caring for animals, and domestic tasks. 2. knowledge of forms of mathematics,
such as knowledge of geometric forms and their relationships, and 3. knowledge of forms
of beauty, including design, color, shape, harmonies, and movement. Play was teacher-
guided, who facilitated sensory and spiritual development by providing special materials,
known as 'gifts.' These gifts included balls of yarn, wooden blocks and tablets, geometric
shapes, and natural objects. Froebel believed children were born with an inherent
goodness, and like Plato, with an inherent knowledge that just need 'reawakening' through
education...in Froebel's case, exposure to 'the fundamental principles of Creation."
p67(Feeny, Moravcik, Nolte, Christensen 2010). Kindergarten curriculum included
handwork called "occupations", including molding, folding, beading, threading, and
embroidery. Singing, games, finger-plays, and stories were utilized to encourage learning.
Froebel insisted that learning must start with the concrete and move to the more abstract,
and that perceptual development preceded abstract thinking skills.
Froebel encouraged young women to study to teach kindergarten. Women traveled from
the United States to German to study his methods, and brought their new knowledge home
where they began their own kindergartens, usually taught in their own homes, often by
German women who had studied with Froebel. The first English-speaking kindergarten
was established in Boston, MA by a woman named Elizabeth Peabody, and after studying
with Froebel in Germany, founded the first Kindergarten teacher education program in the
United States. The first public Kindergarten opened in St. Louis, MO, in 1873 and was
followed by a rapid growth of kindergartens throughout the country over the following 27
years. Along with the rapid growth of Kindergarten programs came the introduction of
related professional associations. The American Froebel Union, or AFU, was founded by
Elizabeth Peabody in 1878, and the IKU, or International Kindergarten Union began in
1892. The IKU eventually merged with the NCPE (National Council of Primary Education)
in 1930, and them became the Association for Childhood Education International, or ACEI,
which is still an active organization today. The NKA or National Kindergarten Association

4. was founded in 1909 and disbanded in 1976.
Issues with the Kindergarten Movement:
Although Kindergartens were a radical change from the structured school system prior to
the Kindergarten's inception, the program has been criticized for being far more
structured than the loose, free-scheduled programs that would come to be advocated years
later, and was a far cry from what we could consider a developmentally appropriate
program today. "Progressive educators expressed the concern that kindergarten practices were rigid
and didn't reflect their ideas about how children develop and learn. They challenged supporters of
Froebel's approach. By 1920, the progressive approach had achieved dominance. The reformed
kindergarten curriculum reflected many of Froebel's original ideas but added a new emphasis on free
play, social interaction, art, music, nature study, and excursions. New unstructured materials,
including large blocks and doll houses, encouraged children's imaginative play. Books and songs
reflected children's interests, rather than conveying a religious message, and activities were inspired by
events in the children's daily lives." p.69 (Feeny, Moravcik, Nolte, Christensen 2010) Patty
Smith Hill (1868-1946) founded the Institute of Child Welfare Research at Columbia
University Teachers College, and brought innovation to Froebel's Kindergarten when it
was attacked and criticized for being too rigid and teacher-dominated. She blended ideas
from various approaches and helped push kindergartens into a direction that was more
compatible with the more progressive ideas of the time. She went on to found the National
Association for Nursery Education (NANE) which is now known as the National
Association for the Education of Young Children, or the NAEYC.