Kindergartens and Cultures: The Global Diffusion of an IdeaRoberta Wollons, Roberta Lyn Wollons At the turn of the nineteenth century, the German kindergarten - banned by the Prussian government as revolutionary - spread rapidly to nations around the globe, becoming at once a local and modernising institution. This book is a collection of case studies that describe the remarkable diffusion, adoption, and transformation of the kindergarten in eleven modern and developing nations. The contributors to the volume examine the process by which the idea of the kindergarten arrived and was adopted in these countries - a process that invariably demonstrated the immense power of local cultures, whether Christian, Buddhist, or Islamic, to respond to and reformulate borrowed ideas. Borrowing cultures do not engage in passive mimicry, the studies show, but recast ideas for their own purposes. Beginning with Germany, the chapters of this book follow the kindergarten idea as it passed in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to the United States, then England, Australia, Japan, China, Poland, Russia, Vietnam, Turkey, and Israel. The contributors examine such complex political, social, and cultural issues as the relationship of gender to national educational policies, the impact of mi |
Contents
On the International Diffusion Politics and Transformation of the Kindergarten | 1 |
The Kindergarten and Public Policy in Germany 1840Present | 16 |
Americanization and Multicultural Education in Kindergartens in the United States 18561920 | 42 |
3 The Kindergarten in England 18511918 | 59 |
A Response to Social Pressures and Educational Influences | 87 |
5 The Missionary Kindergarten in Japan | 113 |
6 The Chinese Kindergarten Movement 19031927 | 137 |
7 Preschool Education in Poland | 166 |
Common terms and phrases
activities adopted Allen American Anatolia Association Australia authorities became become began called century changed child China Chinese Christian classes College continued countries course created cultural curriculum Department early elementary emphasis established example female first foreign founded Froebel Froebelian garten German girls groups House ideas important included influence institutions instruction Japan Japanese kinder kindergarten movement kindergarten teachers late later learning London mau giao means methods Ministry mission missionary moral mothers movement nature opened organized Ottoman parents pedagogical period physical play Polish political poor practice pre-school Press primary principles reform regulations religious responsibility result role Russian served social Society songs stories taught teaching term theories tion traditional Union United University values West Western women young