Kindergarten was invented to be an interesting,
playful, child-centered pre-school for kids.
The
inventor, Friedrich Froebel (born in Germany on this day in 1782)
thought that kids could learn all sorts of thing through song and
play—which were previously unheard of in school—and through art
and interaction with the natural world. That “natural world” part
explains why many kindergartens (which means “children's gardens”
in German) had actual gardens attached to them, which kids tended.
Froebel thought that, while kids were cultivating the garden, they
would cultivate their own inner lives, too.
Froebel
said that all topics (or school “subjects”) were interconnected.
He
said that children were innately curious and interested in learning
new things.
And
Froebel was right about all of these ideas.
But
being right doesn't always guarantee success.
Froebel
started the first kindergarten in 1837 and sold stock in the
enterprise. Although the kindergarten idea spread throughout Germany,
he never got rich from his idea. The autocratic Prussian government
was against Froebel's kindergartens—they promoted democracy, and we
can't have that!—and eventually, in 1851, kindergartens were
outlawed in Prussia.
Froebel
died a year after that...some say of a broken heart. However, his
legacy lives on in the word he invented and also in the ideas he promoted. There are many kindergartens
in Germany named for Froebel, and in the Netherlands, froebelen
means to be busy with arts and crafts.
By
the way, I've noticed that many modern kindergartens (a word used
here in the U.S. for the grade immediately before first grade, mostly
for children age 5) are much more book-paper-pencil oriented, rather
than centered on play and song, paintbrush and outdoors. That's a
darn shame, because the play-and-activity center idea that Froebel
put forth is much more what kids need!
Also
on this date:
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