What history tells us about public schools for 4‐year‐olds

Abstract

In 1926, Patty Smith Hill (1926/1987), then director of the kindergarten unit at Teachers College, Columbia University, suggested the first and foremost imperative function of the kindergarten is to minister to the nature and needs of children from 4 to 6 years of age (p. 12). This and other historical evidence calls into question the assumption widely held in recent discussions that schooling for is a new, unique idea in America. Kindergartens were generally part of the school system by the time Hill made her statement, as recent studies have documented (Bloch, 1987; Spodek, 1980). The history of schooling of depends upon the definition of public. In the 17th century, for example, as well as older children were given training in reading the Bible by village elders or dames, if their own parents were unable to do so. In the 19th century, philanthropic organizations and individuals sponsored or financed school programs (e.g., infant schools, kindergartens) for young children, including 4-year-olds. Since the 1930s, different programs that included have been sponsored by the federal government (WPA nurseries during the depression, Lanham Act day nurseries during World War II, and, more recently, Head Start). These have been called public schooling for 4-year-olds (see Takanishi, 1979). Finally, schooling has been