The Froebelian Kindergarten as an International Movement

Abstract

In the dawn of June 21, 1852, there died in a remote Prussian mountain village a man so supremely self-confident that he predicted his ideas on education and human relationships would not be adopted for two centuries. Called “The Old Fool” by his neighbors and “The Seer” by a devoted following of educators and philosophers, he died serenely despite the knowledge that his life’s work had just been outlawed by a hostile government. Few outside the field of early childhood education have heard the name of Friedrich Froebel, yet most lives in the literate world have been touched by his intellectual legacy. Perhaps the time has already come for Froebel to be understood. His theories are in the contemporary mood of Piaget and the child-centered educators. Stripped of the sentimental veneers that were applied during the Victorian age, these theories emphasized development of cognitive skills and of a positive self-image that would sustain a student over a lifetime of learning.