ED314155 PS018413

 

Title: Past Caring: A History of U.S. Preschool Care and Education for the Poor, 1820-1965.
Author(s): Cahan, Emily D.
Author Affiliation: National Center for Children in Poverty, New York, NY.(BBB27230)
Pages: 72
Publication Date: 1989
Sponsoring Agency: Carnegie Corp. of New York, NY. (QPX12280)@Ford Foundation, New York, NY. (QPX27000)
ISBN: 0-926582-00-3
Available from: EDRS Price MF01/PC03 Plus Postage.
Availability: National Center for Children in Poverty, Columbia University, 154 Haven Avenue, New York, NY 10032 ($5.95).
Language: English
Document Type: Reports--Research (143)
Geographic Source: U.S.; New York
Journal Announcement: RIEMAY1990

This monograph focuses on early forms of preschool care and education, the professions and children in the 1920s and 1930s, the federal role in a series of crisis interventions, and social and intellectual changes affecting early education in the 1960s and 1970s. The rise of a two-tier system for care and education of the preschool child is addressed first. On one hand, a nursery school and kindergarten system for middle-income children developed into one whose primary focus was to supplement enrichment available at home. These nursery schools and kindergartens were held together as a system by their aim of educating and socializing the growing child. On the other hand, a childminding or day care system for low-income children developed in response to the necessity of maternal employment outside the home. The report examines consequences of the stratified system of preschool care and education for poor children and their families. The most important of these was the stigmatization of child care as a function of social welfare. It is concluded that various "suitable home" eligibility requirements established for applicants of social welfare benefits have caused minorities (especially blacks) to be consistently excluded from the system. Over 100 references are cited. (RH)

Descriptors: Bias; *Day Care; Delivery Systems; *Disadvantaged; Early Childhood Education; Educational History; Employed Parents; *Federal Government; *Government Role; Kindergarten; Mothers; Nursery Schools; *Preschool Education; *Social Change; Social Class
Identifiers: *Infant Care