ducation have shifted back and forth from time to time due to the political climate and changed morals.
Between the 1820s and the 1830s only a small number of American children attended infant schools. During this time, the main focus of instruction was on moral and religious issues. Infant schools were designed primarily for children of parents who were unable to teach them at home (Pulliam & Van Patten, 1995). Responsibility for early education was reassigned to mothers, who were told to become teachers in the ôfamily schoolö (Beatty, 1995, p. 201) for the good of their families, society and country. This was done in fear of potential dangers of precocity.
Dissimilar to the school for infants, kindergarten was not designed as a compensatory program for underprivileged children. Attending kindergarten programs was optional without any stipulations. Fees were paid to private kindergartens by American parents that desired this education for their young children. According to Pulliam & Van Patten (1995), th
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