Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Title: Froebel’s Gifts: How the Kindergarten Movement Changed the American Family
Author-Name: Philipp Ager
Author-Email: philipp.ager@uni-mannheim.de
Author-Name: Francesco Cinnirella
Author-Email: francesco.cinnirella@unibg.it
Classification-JEL: N31, J13, I25, O15
Keywords: Kindergarten Education, Immigration, Fertility Transition, Child labor, School Attendance, Social Integration.

Abstract: Nineteenth-century social reformers promoted the establishment of kindergartens as a remedy
for the problems associated with industrialization and immigration. Using newly collected data on
historical kindergarten statistics, we evaluate the impact that the roll-out of the first kindergartens in
American cities had on poor families. We find that immigrant women exposed to kindergartens
significantly reduced fertility. Their offspring were more likely to attend school, they worked less at age
10-15, and they had fewer children as adults. Kindergarten exposure also helped children and mothers
of non-English-speaking households to acquire English proficiency thereby illustrating the importance
of kindergartens in the social integration of immigrant families.

Note: 
Length: 60
Creation-Date: 2024-10
Revision-Date:
File-URL: https://www.crctr224.de/research/discussion-papers/archive/dp604
File-Format: application/pdf
Handle: RePEc:bon:boncrc:CRCTR224_2024_604