Kathryn A. Aschliman Early Childhood Education
Kathryn was born in 1931 in Fulton County, Ohio and grew up on a farm with three older brothers. She enrolled in Goshen College in 1948 and finished in 1954, after interrupting her education for three years to teach elementary school in Ohio. After graduation, Kathryn taught in Goshen, where many of her students were Amish, and then in inner-city Chicago, where she lived and worked with African-American families. “It was like a present-day SST experience,” she said, “impacting my life forever.” During the years of 1954 – 59, Kathryn also wrote Sunday School materials for the Mennonite Publishing House and studied at Goshen Biblical Seminary, graduating from GBS with an MRE degree in 1959.
Kathryn described her work by saying “My approach to learning was an experiential, developmental, interactive approach. Academic skills were taught in the context of past or current first-hand happenings. Outdoor education included gardening and caring for animals including chickens, rabbits, turkeys and goats. The groundwork for peaceful living permeated the curriculum and parental involvement was critical. Children from diversified backgrounds were welcome and usually included international, intercultural representation. Scholarships were always available and each child was valued for who they were.”In the summers, she worked on her master’s degree (1967, Bank Street College of Education, New York) and eventually her Ph.D. (1977, the Union Institute and University, Ohio). She traveled extensively for mission trips, professional meetings and study in the U.S. and Europe. On one such trip in 1952, she worked with war refugees in Europe. In 1962, Kathryn joined the Goshen College faculty as director and teacher of the laboratory kindergarten, and professor of elementary education. She served in these capacities until her retirement in 1996.
To quote Kathryn further, “I had the best job on campus. Teaching the Laboratory Kindergarten put me in touch with community people. I made home visits and involved parents in the classroom, so I enjoy those continuing relationships outside the college community. I am always interested in where and what the kindergarten students are doing. But I also value the college ties with faculty and students who were in my early childhood courses or who had laboratory assignments in the kindergarten. I really had the best job on campus!”
Barbara Stahly, who took over the director’s position when Kathryn retired, said, “They were huge, huge shoes to fill. I was very nervous to step into those shoes, but excited at the same time….I knew that I was always benefiting from what she had done. Kathryn devoted her life to young children and to their education and well-being. Throughout her teaching years and into retirement, she has passionately advocated for young children and for their families.”
Friend Evelyn B. Kreider said of Kathryn, “We all admire Kathryn’s gift for understanding and loving children. That has been the passion of her life. But Kathryn has another defining gift, perhaps less well-known. She is a genius at celebrating grown-ups too – especially the newcomer, the stranger, the outsider. In her quiet way she gives them her gracious attention. And they shine. I have seen it happen.”
For much of her career, Kathryn collected holdings for a Peace Curriculum Library at Goshen College, primarily funded with Faculty Research Funds. She dedicated the roylaties from her book, Growing Toward Peace (Herald Press, 1993), to help fund a collection of children’s literature for the Royer Reading Room, honoring her friend and colleague, Mary Royer. Kathryn encouraged her education students to incorporate peace teaching at all age levels, and the earlier the better. In 2007, she was honored with the Peace Pitcher Award at the Mennonite USA Convention in San Jose.