Prompt: We spent time in class analyzing an educational history timeline of the US and noticed that the purpose of the education system changes over time. For this post, we are expected to go back to that timeline and write about an event or person on the timeline that you found interesting or surprising between the colonial period and 1900.
When viewing the timeline, there were many fascinating events that took place during that large span of time that made it hard to choose just one to talk about. However, in 1856, the first kindergarten in the United States was started by Margarethe Schurz. Margarethe grew up in Germany and learned the concepts for kindergarten by its’ founder, Friedrich Froebel. She later moved to London and met Carl Schurz, and then they traveled to America to begin their life as a married couple. They settled in Watertown, Wisconsin due to the fact that Carl had family there. Mr. Schurz’s political career took off and when Margarethe was tired of feeling unfulfilled in her housekeeping job, she began a small kindergarten class right in their home. What started off as only five students, two being her own children, turned into so many more. And as more and more children were waiting to be taught by Margarethe, her husband had her move the classroom to a small building close by. Her kindergarten was extremely successful and continued until her family moved to Milwaukee. While it was considered a private school, Margarethe helped motivate officials to make kindergarten a part of the public school curriculum. While she was not directly involved in the passing of this law, the only reason kindergarten was known in the US was because she brought her knowledge and started the first one.
This particularly interested me because it was located in Watertown, Wisconsin, only two hours away from Green Bay. For me, when events take place nearby, they seem more real and more understandable. It’s cool to have something so important happen in my home state and seems unreal that it was almost 200 years ago. I was also intrigued by this because the reason I decided to go to school to become an educator was because of my own kindergarten teacher. My junior year in high school, I had dropped the idea of going to nursing school and found myself at a loss for what I wanted to do as a career. I knew I wanted to work with kids, and I thought about how much I loved elementary school. Specifically, I remember how much my kindergarten teacher loved her job. She had copious amounts of energy and always made every moment special for all of her students. I have such great memories from her class, and I think that is one of the most rewarding parts of being a teacher. You get to watch your students grow throughout the year and give them the tools and support needed to do so. I think that Margarethe did the same for her own students and that is why I chose this event.
Sass, E. (2023). American Educational History: A Hypertext Timeline https://eds-resources.com/educationhistorytimeline.html
