FWA Froebel

Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel was born on April 21, 1782 in Oberweissbach, Germany, a small village in the Thuringian Forest. His father was a Lutheran Protestant minister who had a large congregation and little time for five sons and his mother died when he was nine months old making his childhood rather traumatic and depressing. These distressing childhood experiences shaped him into the teacher he would one day become. His upbringing was facilitated by his older brothers and the servants that ran his father’s household but lacked a feminine presence that Froebel desperately desired. This unfulfilled need of a mothers influence and love would create the foundation on which Froebel would build his idea and create a special early childhood environment, Kindergarten.

From his birth to the age of ten Froebel lived in his father’s care and was relatively isolated from the world. Being the youngest of five sons who were much older Froebel found himself shut inside a depressing parsonage much of the time with little or no company. These circumstances led him to become introspective and withdrawn socially from others. School was a rather unpleasant chore; arithmetic was the only subject that came easily to Friedrich. His father’s attempts to teach him to read only frustrated both teacher and pupil. His father regarded him as a “hopelessly stupid’’ boy, unfitted for a university education. There was some basis for the harsh judgment. The ability to express himself adequately or gracefully in speech or writing was always a stumbling block for Froebel. Grammar was a constant barrier and his repeated efforts in learning Latin were unsuccessful. (Downs 13) His real education came from listening to his father council his parishioner...

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...ablished 31 across Germany however his life ended in sadness as they were closed due to the irrational fears of the King of Germany that were the basis of national uprising to usurp his throne. On June 21 1852 Froebel died at his home in Marienthal, one year after his death the ban on kindergartens was removed and the movement spread across the nation and the continent. While sometimes questionable his views on early childhood education continue to have a lasting impact even today.

Works Cited

Downs, Robert B. Friedrich Froebel.

Boston, Massachusetts. Twanye Publishers. 1978. Print.

Lawrence, Evelyn. Friedrich Froebel and the English education.

New York, New York. Philosophical Library Inc. 1953. Print.

Chalke, R.D. A Synthesis of Froebel and Herbert.

London, England. University Tutorial Press. 1912. Print.

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