The notion of the public schools as a institution to replace the lack of family structure and parental involvement in the home is a notion that I think carries though to today in our educational system. School is really a place of structure where students are taught to follow rules and commands implemented by the teacher similiar to how some homes are run. The concept of Kindergarten as being a place to promote the creativity of younger children and ready them for introduction into the higher levels of schooling is one that I think is necessary to promoting order and maturity in younger children. However, the constant argument throughout these chapters has been the use of education/schools as the center for controlling and civilizing the minds of the immigrant cultures and the less Protestant peoples. The concepts created along with the creation of schools were good goals if they would have had positive intentions alongside them. I found it interesting that Richards wanted a movement towards canned-processed food as the creation of the American diet. I wonder what Richards would think today now that alot of canned/processed foods has proven to not be beneficial to people in a whole. Everything in this chapter had to do with the misconception that immigrant cultures were barbaric and any contact with them would cause the Protestant culture to decrease and become contaminated. The Americanization of the immigrant cultures in language, diet, and schooling was a bad way to promote American pride. I think that this process worked againgst America in the sense that every immigrant group learned how to start movements and get things done on their own for their groups social advancement.
Do you think the creation of the school cafeteria food system was a good idea, should children have been subjected to canned and heavily processed foods? Has the original concept of Kindergarten held true in our contemporary Kindergarten level of schooling? Do you think Richards’s involvement in the movement of women from the domestic sphere of “producer” to the industrial sphere of “consumer” really gave women more freedom? How do you feel about schools being social centers, are schools only for learning or do they have a dual role as an outlet for the community to use in whatever matter they choose?
