by Lisa M. Downey Elizabeth Harrison once said, “There is nothing great accomplished in this world without faith in its greatness.” Harrison, an educator and advocate for the kindergarten movement in the United States, settled in Chicago in 1885 and worked alongside other visionary women of the time to create a training school for kindergarten teachers and mothers that, at the time, was a truly radical idea. The prevailing thought of the day was that children should not attend school until they were at least 6 years of age. In the U.S., due to poverty and a gross lack of child labor laws, children were usually engaged in farming, industry, or other work-based activities within the home. Also, in the late 1800’s, most teachers were white men. Further, it was commonly believed that, if you were wealthy, a woman’s place was in the home and in support of society through philanthropic activities. If you were not wealthy, you were likely working in factories, farms, or other domestic forms of employment. The idea that women would be teachers was ludicrous to some. Harrison sought to change that, by empowering women and mothers to connect with their children in ways that were play based, focused on holistic development, and based on the theories and practices of Owen, Pestalozzi, Froebel, and Montessori.
