The Hidden History of Early Childhood Education

Blythe Farb Hinitz

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781136707070
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

The Hidden History of Early Childhood Education provides an understandable and manageable exploration of the history of early childhood education in the United States. Covering historical, philosophical, and sociological underpinnings that reach from the 1800s to today, contributors explore groups and topics that have traditionally been marginalized or ignored in early childhood education literature. Chapters include topics such as home-schooling, early childhood education in Japanese-American internment camps, James "Jimmy" Hymes, the Eisenhower legacy, Constance Kamii, and African-American leaders of the field. This engaging book examines a range of new primary sources to be shared with the field for the first time, including personal narratives, interviews, and letters. The Hidden History of Early Childhood Education is a valuable resource for every early childhood education scholar, student, and practitioner.

1

Introduction

Blythe Farb Hinitz

The history of early childhood education is about people—ordinary people and powerful people—living in ordinary and extraordinary times. It is a history of adults working with and for children from the dawn of the United States of America to the modern era, even in the most challenging of circumstances. Yet this history has often been forgotten or hidden. This volume presents selected examples that provide the reader with a more informed view of the time periods under discussion and a broader perspective on the history of early childhood education.

The purpose of this book is to emphasize in-depth investigation and study rather than the breadth of scholarship prevalent in some existing works.

This volume examines individuals and groups of people, whose place in early childhood education history has rarely been studied, bringing to light new primary sources that provide us with both a broader perspective of the time and a deeper understanding of these individuals’ contribution. The book brings into sharp focus the inter-relatedness of various chapters of our often hidden history that form the foundation of our field today.

The types of programs that are provided for young children today have evolved from the earliest years of provision for learning in the home. Parents and tutors, dame schools, and—eventually—small schoolhouses and mission schools provided these early learning environments. The arrival of the kindergarten and, later, the nursery school and the Montessori Children’s House from Europe, heralded the beginning of support for group programs for two-to six-year-olds. Over the years, children from a multiplicity of socio-economic levels have participated in a wide variety of program types.

Early childhood education is normally defined as any type of program serving children from six weeks to eight years of age. Within that broad definition fall several categories of programs.

Child care centers enroll children from six weeks of age through kindergarten. Out-of-school-time programs can include school-age care. This is full-time, full-year care that is usually comprehensive and family oriented. Child development centers are similar, but they may emphasize the educational as opposed to the care-giving aspects of their program. Day nurseries were the historical predecessors of full-time care with limited educational services. According to the 1929 National Society for the Study of Education (NSSE) Yearbook, there were four categories of day nurseries: the independent commercial nursery, the philanthropic nursery, the industrial nursery, and the day nurseries within public school systems. Funding sources included “private individuals for gain,” private individuals organized as a body, churches and religious organizations, welfare associations, social settlements, industries, and public school systems. The names may have changed since 1929 but the categories remain the same, including the family child care homes, religious and charitable child care programs, employer-sponsored child care centers and public school prekindergarten programs of today (Lascarides & Hinitz, 2011, pp.362–364; “Day Nurseries,” 1929, pp. 87–91).

For the historian, this book may reinforce or modify the histories provided by existing literature. It fills in some knowledge gaps in previous publications on early childhood education history, including the editor’s own. For the early childhood practitioner, this book fully describes the bases of several programs and practices that are in wide use today by providing rationales to replace reliance on “gut reactions,” “what works,” or “flying by the seat of your pants.”

Continuity is provided by the fact that the stories this book presents are all based upon increasingly accurate and detailed knowledge of historical data and child development, ongoing, field-based research into best practices, and support for all forms of diversity (including physical, cultural, and intellectual). This is developmentally appropriate practice broadly defined.

The profession owes a debt of gratitude to the authors of the chapters in this volume for sharing with us the primary sources that broaden and deepen our understanding of the interconnectedness of early childhood education history with the sociology, psychology, politics, economics, and history of the United States from the 1800s to the present day. The individual chapters use newly available source materials or represent recent scholarship on the specific topic.

Miller provides us with insight into the educational experiences of Quaker children and their families in the course of their daily lives. Their experiences occurred in home and school settings, religious meetings, and family and social events.

Williston looks at the history of homeschooling from a personal point of view. She provides an overview of the existence of and rationale for homeschooling, enhanced by vignettes from her personal experience.

Wishon, Shaeffer, and Kyger review the establishment and operation of school programs for young Japanese-American children in the World War II United States internment camps.

Grossman’s personal experiences in a campus-based laboratory school form the centerpiece of her description of campus schools in the United States.

Ranck fills in a large gap in the history of early childhood education with her research-based description of Federal government support for early childhood education in the United States during the post-World War II period of the 1950s.

Simpson and McConnell Farmer share the stories of three remarkable African American early childhood education leaders, whose organizational work, educational roles, and divergent thinking enhance our field to the present time.

Hinitz explores the long-term impact of Margaret Naumburg and Walden School upon the field of early childhood education.

Anderson discusses the multiple contributions of James L. Hymes Jr. in his roles of teacher educator, administrator, organizational leader, parent educator, and author.

Beatty chronicles the work of one of the leading figures in the movement for constructivist preschool education. Constance Kamii initiated a revolution in the way young children are taught arithmetic based on her belief that children learn concepts and knowledge through manipulation of physical materials.

This volume brings to light and shares selected previously untold or unheralded stories that illuminate the past, have meaning for the present, and speak to the future of our field and our country.

References

[Bartlett, B.] (1929). Day nurseries. In G. M. Whipple (Ed.) National Society for the Study of Education 28th Yearbook: Preschool and parental education. Bloomington, IL: Public School Publishing Company.

Lascarides, V. C. and B. F. Hinitz (2011). History of early childhood education. New York: Routledge.

Part I

Glimpses of Past Practice

2

The Light Within

Glimpses into the Lives and Education of Young Quaker Children (1820–1860)

Susan Anderson Miller

Rowland E. Robinson, a young Quaker child from Rokeby, a farm in Ferrisburgh, Vermont, was very active. He could not sit still in meetings. However, he finally willed himself to sit still because he was afraid if he talked out, members of the meeting would think that the “Spirit of Light” was trying to talk through him.

(A. Mincher, guide, personal communication, August 2008)¹

Through snapshot illustrations, like the one about Rowland E. Robinson, a typical young boy of this time period, the reader will learn how the various unique beliefs of this religious sect, such as helpfulness, honesty, respectfulness of equality, the appreciation of simplicity, and their own resourcefulness influenced the daily lives of Quaker children and their families during the era prior to the American Civil War. The Quaker belief that each of us has that of God within, or an “Inner Light” shining in every human heart (Gray, 1947), affected many aspects of the children’s daily lives.

Figure 2.1Rokeby, a National Historic Landmark in Ferrisburgh, Vermont, was the home of the Robinson family 1790–1961. They were Quaker pioneers, farmers, and abolitionists. (Photo by author)

Background of Quakerism

Founder, George Fox

In the mid-1600s, the Religious Society of Friends, with its Christian roots, was founded in England by George Fox. He believed that each person was capable of having a direct experience with God through an “Inner Light” (Quaker definition, n.d.).

Because God speaks directly to each heart, the Quakers hold that there is no need of a priest to mediate between God and man. They believe that God speaks most clearly in silence … and so they sit in silence waiting for Him to speak within their hearts.

(Gray, 1947, p.25)

When they rose to speak during silent meetings, these religious Friends were apt to tremble with the intensity of their feelings. For this reason, Quaker was the name given by the world’s people to the Religious Society of Friends (Gray, 1947, p. 31).

“The Quaker conviction that the Inner Light was universal, that it was present in all people regardless of race, sex, or creed, encouraged the Friends’ belief that all persons were equal in the eyes of God” (Kashatus, 1997, p. 178). This belief aroused George Fox to suggest the implementation of elementary schools for both boys and girls to learn practical and spiritual information (Schatz, 1997). This not only influenced Quaker thinking during 1820–1860, but Quakers today have continued this tradition (Taber, W.P., 1976; Friends Council on Education, Chance, & Franek, 2009).

William Penn’s “Holy Experiment”

In the 1600s, numerous people fled England to America because of religious persecution. In the late 17th Century, a Quaker, William Penn, founded Philadelphia, the “City of Brotherly Love,” where many Quakers found religious tolerance (Schatz, 1997).

Inspired by the early Friends’ educational philosophy, Penn started an American school for the different ethnic groups and poor children in the city. In 1689, he incorporated a “Friends Public School” under the guidance of the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends² (Friends Council on Education, et al., 2009). For Penn’s “Holy Experiment”, a democratic society with religious tolerance, to flourish he felt it was important to provide a universal compulsory education so that all children, rich and poor, could have a public education (Kashatus, 1997). His plan involved instructing children to read so they could understand the Scriptures and teaching children to the age of twelve a skill or trade. (Schatz, 1997).

Penn inspired monthly meetings in Bucks, Chester, and Montgomery Counties to begin schools. An advanced idea, for the time, male and female students were offered the same instruction. In another observance of equality, Abington Friends School accepted African-American children. Encouraged by the early Quakers, many of the schools have celebrated their 300-year anniversaries (Friends Council on Education, et al., 2009; Schatz, 1997).

Orthodox-Hicksite Split (1827–1828)

The Quakers’ daily family lives, their religious relationships and the maintenance of their schools became more complicated as a result of the Orthodox-Hicksite split within the religious group in 1827–1828. Following the interpretations of Elias Hicks, the Hicksites “stressed the Inner Light and the mystical emphasis of traditional Quakerism” (Taber, W.P., 1976, p. 5). The Orthodox Quakers were influenced by the evangelical spirit and held a more fundamental interpretation of the Bible (Doherty, 1965; Jones, 1921). Many Hicksites accepted a “somewhat liberal interpretation of the Bible and Christian doctrines. They were united in believing that Quakerism should allow some freedom for varying theological points of view” (Taber, W.P., 1976, p. 5). However, the Orthodox leadership was not able to bend in that direction. This era of the Great Separation was a real cleavage down the center of the Society of Friends with all the tragedies of broken families, disownment by meetings and lawsuits about property (Brown, 1989; Jones, 1921; Hallowell, 1884).

Antebellum Period

Many occurrences during the American Antebellum Period, from just after the Revolutionary War to the Pre-Civil War Era, affected the lives of Quakers. During this time, there were pleas for the paupers, the insane, the criminals, and the slaves, as well as cries for social justice and freedom for women. The Quakers believed in all of these causes (Woodward, 1927).

The year 1834 brought forth the invention of the McCormick reaper. This machine was the first of many farming implements that were to convert the frontier into a vast granary. It helped “establish in free territory, the promised land of the southern Quakers, a sturdy, liberty-loving productive people, as a foil to the rising slave-dependant regime of the South” (Woodward, 1927, p.5).

Railroads and canals sprung up to make journeys so much easier and faster. These forms of transportation aided westward migration. Soon after their arrival in frontier areas, Quaker settlers felt compelled to provide schooling for their children (Common School Movement, n.d.).

While the West and South remained basically rural, an industrial life based on the factory system sprang up in the East. Because of this Industrial Revolution, many women and children worked long, hard hours in appalling conditions. Sympathetic Quakers and women suffragettes like Lucretia Mott and Susan B. Anthony gave their attention to these and other difficult problems of human welfare (Bacon, 1999; Hare, 1937; Woodward, 1927).

Finally, at the end of this period, the storm of the Civil War broke upon the country. Now the heart and spirit of the Friends was sorely tested. On one hand, they were patriotic and believed in human freedom. On the other hand, they were very opposed to war (Woodward, 1927). Even today, Quakers hold strong beliefs as pacifists and human rights activists.

Public Schooling

“The common school movement of the 1800s is widely regarded as the most significant change or reform in nineteenth century American education” (Common school movement, n.d., p.3). Although many of the nation’s early leaders tried to encourage public schools, up until the mid-1800s most schools were private or religiously oriented. Protestant...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• List of Contributors
• 1. Introduction
• Part I: Glimpses of Past Practice
• Part II: Portraits of Early Childhood Education Leaders
• Appendix: How the Early Childhood Field Has Honored Its History: NAEYC History Seminar and Our Proud Heritage
• Index