Part 54 (1/2)
9 That the natural interests, curiosity, and activities of children should be utilized in their education
10 That the normal activities of children call for expression, and that the best , drawing, er be exclusively literary and linguistic, but should be based on sense perception, expression, and reasoning
12 That such education calls for instruction in the book of nature, with hoation of ele a proht rather than the subject-matter; life here rather than hereafter; and the develop of the memory, were the proper objects of education
14 That a many-sided education is necessary to reveal child possibilities; to correct the narrowing effect of specialized class education; and to prepare one for possible changes in fortune
A new educational ideal presented Rousseau's _e to his conception it was debasing that man should be educated to behave correctly in an artificial society, to follow blindly the doctrines of a faith, or to be an obedient subject of a king
Instead he conceived the function of education to be to evolve the natural powers, cultivate the hu, and to develop a reasoning individual, capable of intelligently directing his life under diverse conditions and in any for forth such ideas naturally was revolutionary [1] inthese lines during the rehteenth century, and beca source of nineteenth-century reforms As Rousseau's _Social Contract_ became the political handbook of the French Revolutionists, so his _emile_ became the inspiration of a new theory as to the education of children
Co, as it did, at a time when political and ecclesiastical despotis down in France, when new forces were striving for expression throughout Europe, and when new theories as to the functions of govern set forth in the Aave the needed inspiration for the evolution of a new theory of non- religious, universal, and deent participation in the functions of a deanization of the subject-matter of education itself
A new theory as to the educational purpose was soon to arise, and the whole nature of the educational process, in the hands of others, was soon to be transformed as a result of the fortunate conjunction of the iconoclastic and impractical discussion of education by Rousseau and the lish, French, and A of these, modern educational theory arose
II GERMAN ATTEMPTS TO WORK OUT A NEW THEORY
INFLUENCE OF THE _eMILE_ IN GERMAN LANDS The _ehout the continent of Europe as well In Ger tide of nationalishten) men as Goethe, Schiller, Herder, Richter, Fichte, and Kant It presented a new ideal of education and a new ideal for humanity, and its ideas harmonized ith those of the newly created aristocracy of worth which the young Ger for their native land The ideal of the perfected individual, strong in the consciousness of his powers, now found expression in the new ”classics of individualism” which marked the outburst of the best that German literature has ever produced As Paulsen [2] well says:
Rousseau exercised an immense influence on his times, and Germany was stirred perhaps even more deeply than France In France Voltaire continued to be regarded as the great man of his tier generation had been taken by the enthusiast of Geneva Kant, Herder, Goethe, Schiller, Fichte, all of them were roused by Rousseau to the inave utterance to the passionate longing of their souls: to do aith the imitation of French courtly culture, by which Nature was suppressed and perverted in every way, to do aith the established political and social order, based on court society and class distinctions, which was felt to be lowering to , and to return to Nature, to simple and unsophisticated habits of life, or rather to find a way through Nature to a better civilisation, which would restore the natural values of life to their rightful place and would be compatible with truth and virtue, sincerity and probity of character
The great German philosopher, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), was so deeply stirred by the _eularity of his daily walks and the clearness of his thinking were disturbed by it Goethe called the book ”the teacher's Gospel” Schiller praised Rousseau as ”a new Socrates, who of Christians wished to make men” Herder acclaiuide Jean-Paul Richter confessed himself indebted to Rousseau for the best ideas in his _Levana_ Lavater declared hi the lines laid down by Rousseau
[Illustration: FIG 64 BASEDOW (1723-90)]
BASEDOW AND HIS WORK Perhaps the most important practical influence exerted by the _emile_ in German lands came in the work of Johann Bernard Basedow and his followers Basedoas a North Ger, had studied in the theological faculty at Leipzig, had been a tutor in a nobleman's family, and had been a teacher in a _Ritterakademie_ in Denmark and the _Gymnasium_ at Altona
Deeply iainst the dominance of the Church in hu of the _eht out a plan for a reform school which should put many of Rousseau's ideas into practice In 1768 he issued his _Address to Philanthropists and Men of Property on Schools and Studies and their Influence on the Public Weal_, in which he appealed for funds to enable him to open a school to try out his ideas, and to enable him to prepare a new type of textbooks for the use of schools He proposed in this appeal to organize a school which should be non-sectarian, and also advocated the creation of a National Council of Education to have charge of all public instruction These were essentially the ideas of the French political reformers of the time The appeal idely scattered, awakened much enthusiasm, and subscriptions to assist him poured in from many sources [3]
In 1774 Basedow published torks of more than ordinary importance The first, a _Book of Method for Fathers and Mothers of Families and of Nations_, was a book for adults, and outlined a plan of education for both boys and girls The keynotes were ”following nature,” ”iious instruction,” children to be dealt with as children, learning through the senses, language instruction by a natural method, and much study of natural objects The ideas were a combination of those of Bacon, Comenius, and Rousseau The second book, in four volu one hundred copper-plate illustrations, was the famous _Elementary Work_ (_Elementarwerk mit Kupfern_) (R 266), the first illustrated school textbook since the _Orbis Pictus_ (1654) of Comenius This work of Basedow's becahteenth century By means of its ”natural ht to read, both the vernacular and Latin, more easily and in less tiiven a knowledge of es by ”an inco children The book enjoyed a wide circulation a the middle and upper classes in German lands
BASEDOW'S _PHILANTHROPINUM_ In 1774 Prince Leopold, of Dessau, a town in the duchy of Anhalt, in northern Gerarden, and twelve thousand thalers in -heralded _Philanthropinum_, which was to be an educational institution of a new type Great expectations were aroused, and a widespread interest in the new school awakened Education according to nature, with a refores, were to be its central ideas Children were to be treated as children, and not as adults Powdered hair, gilded coats, swords, rouge, and hoops were to be discarded for short hair, clean faces, sailor jackets, and caps, while the natural plays of children and directed physical training were to be es were to be taught by conversational , planing, and carpentering were provided-- for both social and educational reasons Instruction in real things-- science, nature--was to take the place of instruction in words, and the vernacular was to be the language of instruction The institution was to have the ation, but was not to be Catholic, Lutheran, Refor distinctions”
Latin, Gerraphy, physics, natural history),were the principal subjects of instruction The children were divided into four classes, and the instruction for each, with the textbooks to be used, was outlined (R 265)
The school opened with Basedow and three assistants as teachers, and two of Basedow's children and twelve others as pupils Later the school ca pupils, drawn froa and Spain In 1776 a public exauished men were invited, and the hich Basedow's methods could produce was exhibited Thesefrom the rather full accounts which have been left us [4] The school represented a new type of educational effort, and was frankly experimental in purpose
It was an attempt to apply, in practice, the main ideas of Rousseau's _emile_ Basedow tried the plan of education outlined by Rousseau with his own daughter, whom he named emilie
[ILlustRATION: FIG 165 IMMANUEL KANT (1724-1804)]
As a pro experiment the school awakened widespread interest, and Basedoas supported by such thinkers of the ti the ”Examination” Kant, then professor of philosophy at the University of Konigsberg, contributed an article to the _Konigsberg Gazette_ explaining the i
Still later, in his university lectures _On Pedagogy_, he further stated the i words:
It was iined that experiments in education were not necessary; and that, whether any thing in it was good or bad, could be judged of by the reason But this was a great mistake; experience shows very often that results are produced precisely the opposite to those which had been expected We also see froeneration cannot work out a complete plan of education The only experi the path was the Dessau institution This praise iven to it, in spite of the ainst it; faults which belong to all conclusions based upon such undertakings; and which make new experiments always necessary It was the only school in which the teachers had the liberty to work after their own methods and plans, and where they stood in connection, not only with each other, but with hout all Gerh, was an iar and coarse, given to drunkenness and inte claims for his hich the results did not justify In a few years he had been displaced as director, and in 1793 the _Philanthropinum_ closed its doors The school, nevertheless, was a very important educational experiment, and Basedoork for a tiht He may be said to have raised instruction in the _Realien_ in Geriven a turn to such instruction which it has ever since retained [5] The raphy, geometry, natural history, physics, and history were in many ways as revolutionary as those evolved by Pestalozzi later on in Switzerland In his emphasis on scientific subject-matter Basedow surpassed Pestalozzi, but Pestalozzi possessed a clearer, intuitive insight into the nature and purpose of the educational process The work of the twobasis for coave added importance to that of the other
Froical ideas and experiments spread over Europe, and particularly over German lands Other institutions, modeled after the _Philanthropinum_, were founded in many places, and so certain lines as did Basedow hirees of worth