Kindergärtner
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: Kindergärtners
form: Kindergärtner
Etymology: From German Kindergärtner (“kindergarten teacher”). The other sense is not used in German.
Senses: examples: text: The Kindergärtners began their revolution by substituting objects for books in teaching, according to the express doctrine of [Jean-Jacques] Rousseau; but that is no evidence that they understood his philosophy. […] The Kindergärtner indiscriminately begins the teaching of forms, either with a cube alone, or with a cube and a ball, or with several cubes, without appearing to suspect the radical differences between exercises of comparison of the different parts of an object, and of two objects, and the exercises of combination of single objects to form a compound one. […] At this point, the Kindergärtners fail to establish the link of continuity between the automatic and willed action, the perception and the idea, the instinct and the morality.
ref: 1875, E[dward] Seguin, “The Kindergarten”, in Report on Education (Vienna International Exhibition, 1873), Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, →OCLC, pages 17, 18, and 20:
text: I fully believe myself that, though this foreign name [Kindergarten] has been temporarily adopted in England and America, neither this nor that of Kindergärtner (gardeners) for the teachers will be permanently employed.
ref: [1876, Joseph Payne, “Hamburg”, in A Visit to German Schools: Notes of a Professional Tour […], London: Henry S[amuel] King & Co., →OCLC, page 28:
text: Our standard-point is: One year’s training and a second year of practical work in a Kindergarten,—that makes the Kindergärtner if otherwise qualified for it. Learning by “apprenticeship” will never make a Kindergärtner, though it may be of infinite value to any girl. […] A good Kindergärtner should not only be a Kindergärtner, but at the same time a good teacher, thus verifying the saying: that a good Kindergärtner may become any day a teacher,—but not vice versa.
ref: 1877, Maria Kraus-Boelte, “The Kindergarten and the Mission of Women. […]”, in The Addresses and Journal of Proceedings of the National Education Association. […], Salem, Oh.: […] [T]he Association. […] Allan K. Tatem, […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 211:
text: Young Kindergärtner, whose mathematical knowledge is at best very limited, must be carefully trained in this respect, for they do not easily understand the philosophy of it, and thus expose the system to be misjudged by the physicians, who know better of what the little brain is yet capable without injury. […] If Kindergärtner will confine themselves to making children see things with their own eyes and judge and compare them with their own minds without any attempts at abstractions, they will gradually see them generalize for themselves even in words; […]
ref: 1881, Mary [Tyler Peabody] Mann, quotee, Report of the Commissioner of Education […], part I, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page xc:
glosses: Alternative form of kindergartner (“person who teaches at a kindergarten”).
examples: text: For the rest, the brain of our little Kindergärtner was being engrossed with the business of getting knowledge, and, as a result of this fancy, was being taken in hand by sober understanding and drilled to the useful and necessary task of discovering truth.
ref: 1895, James Sully, “Extracts from a Father’s Diary”, in Studies of Childhood, London; New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 482:
text: [He] accepted a cigar from one of his timid admirers. They followed him like Kindergärtner as he pointedly moved away from the Owl before allowing someone to light him up.
ref: 1976, John Kelly, The Wooden Wolf, New York, N.Y.: Golden Apple Publications, published 1983, →ISBN, page 212:
text: Hey, Jimbo, does it really makes sense to use slowed clocks that are asynchronous, along with contracted rulers? Even Kindergärtners know better than to use warped tools.
ref: 2008 February 29, kk, “Re: why relativists just can't handle the truth?”, in sci.physics (Usenet), archived from the original on 18 Sep 2025:
text: Father shrugged and sighed like Mrs. Owl when explaining something to a dim-witted Kindergärtner.
ref: 2021 December 22, Marga T [pseudonym; Marga Tjoa], “The Scissors of Syafruddin”, in If Only: A Memoir, Jakarta: Gramedia Pustaka Utama, →ISBN, page 227:
glosses: Nonstandard form of kindergartner (“child who attends a kindergarten”).