The more things change, the more things stay the same.
Kindergartens, in which younger children are instructed and engage in play before [formally] entering school, can only be justified when great poverty requires mothers to earn their daily bread during the day. A small child flourishes nowhere better than under the eyes of his mother; she shoud be his nurturer [Erzieherin] and teacher. But idle, comfortable, pleasure-seeking women experience it as a “relief” to be able to send the “little pests” to Kindergarten where the caretakers have to “bother” with them.
— J.C.W. Lindemann, Amerikanisch-Lutherische Schul-Praxis, pg. 36