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Everyone remembers their first day of kindergarten; that nervous excitement of what awaits you at this new and unfamiliar place, the tear of joy and worry that hides in the corner of your mother’s eye and the sweet sound of the teacher’s welcome at the door which gives you a sudden sense of security and optimism. At this young age, we start to become accustomed to the daily routine of getting up, going to school, and returning home again. Though we were too young to realize it, each simple finger painting we created, each story that was read to us in circle time, and each specific rule set for a certain play area all had a meaning. We were unaware of the fact that we were subtly being taught the most important life lessons that we would ever learn, and we were only five. Unfortunately, as we grow older, said lessons tend to be pushed aside on our priority list and they become neglected and forgotten, resulting in a greater amount of social and criminal damage and loss of moral decency.
Kindergarten is the foundation of a thirteen-year-long educational career and was created with strategic ideas and purposes. Although there are various forms of early childhood education programs around the world, kindergarten specifically began in Germany in 1835, created by Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel (Traharelly 3). Froebel created a set of symbolic activities such as crafts and songs to be utilized by the children to help them understand the unity of humanity and nature. His ideas were later brought to the USA by German immigrants and quickly spread throughout the country to almost every community by the early 20th century. Other programs such as nursery school, day care, and Montessori schools were later established and shared similar initial educational principles. “Programs became more education-oriented and supported the development of the young child through play activities,” proclaims an online encyclopedia article called, “Early Childhood Education,”...