I know it is called Kindergarten, but shouldn’t it really be “little children start the journey of the garden of knowledge“- Kindergarden? That’s what it means in German - children’s garden.
The first public school kindergarten in Canada opened in Kitchener in 1882. Early adopters in the U.S. started them in 1856. The original first kindergarten in Germany was even earlier - in 1837. Its focus was play, nature, and self-directed learning. All the credit is given to Friedrich Frobel - I guess his philosophy that young children learn best through play has resounded through the centuries.
I am surprised by how early in history Kindergartens started. Children were working in factories well into the 1800s, yet the first preschool was started in 1780. This was a global movement by the late 1800s.
Still, if you look at statistics of how many children went to school in 1850, it says formal schooling was not universal - and only 40-50% went to school in urban areas like Hamilton. In Britain over 20% of children worked full-time in 1880s. Child labour continued through to the 1930s and then declined.
As state-controlled education became the norm more than religious-controlled education, the presence of pre-school education became the norm too. So Kindergarten became a crucial start to education in countries around the world.
It makes me realize how attractive kindergarten teaching must be. Can you imagine being “in charge“ of playing, learning about nature, and having children direct themselves in their learning? It does sound rewarding.
Today’s image is a montage of a watercolour image I created with salt and the bubbling water glass picture from a few weeks ago. To me it looks like a troubled rising tide landscape.
