“A Better Crop of Boys and Girls”: The School Gardening Movement, 1890–1920

Abstract

In the 1890s progressive educators like John Dewey proposed expansive ideas about integrating school and society. Working to make the boundaries between classroom learning and pupils' natural environment more permeable, for example, Dewey urged teachers to connect intellectual and practical elements within their curricula. Highly visible and widespread examples of this integrative goal were the school gardens that flourished from the 1890s well into the twentieth century. Evidence of their presence is recorded in newspapers, national magazines, and annual school reports whose illustrations typically portrayed well-dressed children cultivating large gardens next to impressive urban school buildings. Whether in large cities or country settings, school gardens were expressions of modern and progressive education of the sort encouraged by Dewey. Gardens were encouraged in theory and in practice not only at the laboratory school affiliated with the University of Chicago but also in normal schools across the country (Figure 1).

Integrating local agriculture into nutrition programs can benefit children's health

“…School gardens were first implemented in the United States at the George Putnam School in Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1890, and by 1918 there was at least one in every state (Kohlstedt 2008). During World Wars I and II, more than a million children were contributing to U.S. food production with victory gardens, which were part of the U.S. School Garden Army Program (Hayden-Smith 2006;Subramaniam 2002).…”

School Gardens Enhance Academic Performance and Dietary Outcomes in Children

“…One such educational opportunity arises from the provision of school gardens, which has spread across the United States, supported by nonprofit organizations, grassroots organizing, and even federal funding . Gardens have a history that began decades ago as a means of science instruction . Today, gardens are also promoted as a means for children to increase exposure to FV, and thereby improve attitudes and preferences related to FV consumption.…”

Urban agriculture, racial capitalism, and resistance in the settler‐colonial city

“…Gardening also played an important role in citizen-and worker-subject formation among immigrant laborers and their children in the early 20th century (Bassett, 1981;Kohlstedt, 2008;Lawson, 2005). School gardens and immigrant garden projects taught participants to be efficient workers, applying Taylorist principles to the cultivation of symmetrical rows of crops.…”