Pestalozzi

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INTRODUCTION. The influence of Pestalozzi was enormous throughout Western civilization. His methods were adopted in Prussia, making their school system one of the best in the world during the nineteenth century. American educators studied these schools in order to evoke educational reform at home. Teacher training was improved in France. Only in England was his influence lost. Except for the aristocracy, English education lagged behind the rest of Europe.

LIFE. The following facts represent the major events in the life of Pestalozzi:

1. EARLY YOUTH. Pestalozzi was born in Zurich, Switzerland on January 12,1746. His father died when he was five, and he was raised in a loving home consisting of his mother, older sister and woman servant. He did not enter school until he was nine. His elementary school record was not impressive because of his tendency to daydream. However, he did enter and complete his studies at the University of Zurich. He began as a student for the ministry, but his shyness led him away from theology and into law.

2. FARM AT NEUHOF. Desirous of alleviating the hardship of poverty among the masses, Pestalozzi began a social experiment in which he hoped to make his newly purchased farm a center of humanistic activity. He married his childhood friend. She helped him to temper many of his more impractical ideas. Pestalozzi learned his teaching methods from his experiences in teaching his son, Jacobi. These methods were inspired by reading Emile. Later they were changed with additional experience. Pestalozzi took in a group of orphans and vagrant or abandoned children. The instruction he gave those children was very successful. He went bankrupt in 1780 after five years of this social experiment. His small family was saved from starvation by the services of a kindly servant neighbor, Elizabeth Naef. Elizabeth managed the farm with such success that the Pestalozzis were never again in want.

3. WRITER AND TEACHER. Pestalozzi wrote the novel Leonard and Gertrude in 1781. This book, incorporating many of Pestalozzi's ideas about educational and social reform, became an educational classic. Its publication brought Pestalozzi fame but no alleviation from hard work and near poverty on the farm. He published the book "Fables" in 1791, which was a collection of animal stories with simple morals. The same year witnessed the writing of his "Inquiry." This philosophical work was a failure.

4. ORPHANAGE AT STANZ. His offer to assist the orphaned children of Stanz, following the widespread destruction caused by the Swiss revolution, was accepted. For five months he labored continually and successfully in spite of religious and educational criticism. The orphanage was closed after another war.

5. SCHOOL AT BURGDORF. Pestalozzi volunteered his services without pay to the village of Burgdorf. The villagers were suspicious of his methods, and it became evident that it would be necessary for him to establish his own private school. He was assisted in this by another schoolmaster, named Krusi. With two additional teachers, they began together the school which attracted international attention and fame. Pestalozzi won government support as his fame increased. He published in 1801 a systematic treatise on education, "How Gertrude Teaches Her Children." He moved his school to a castle at Yverdon in 1805.

6. LAST YEARS. The school at Yverdon lasted for twenty years. It attracted students and teachers from many nations in its early days. Representatives from Prussia returned home to change and improve their educational system. As the institution grew in size, some of the teachers changed the methods of Pestalozzi and quarrels resulted, creating dissension and wholesale resignations. Pestalozzi remained with the school until the very end. When the school closed in 1826, Pestalozzi, then a man of eighty, retired to his farm. His remaining time involved him in invective disputes with some of his former teachers. He died February 17, 1827.

PESTALOZZIAN PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. Some of the very many principles of Pestalozzi's education can be summed up as follows:

1. EDUCATION. Education is the unfolding of the natural powers and faculties latent in every human being.

2. PURPOSE OF EDUCATION. The purpose of education is both social and individual. Education provides the means for the social regeneration of humanity. As the moral, social, emotional and intellectual development of each individual unfolds through education, society is also improved by these individuals who achieve their full potential.

3. THE CURRICULUM. The curriculum of the elementary school was enlarged to include geography, science (through the study of nature), drawing and music.

4. METHODOLOGY. The following are the chief points of Pestalozzi's method:

a. Child Centered.

b. Direct Experience. The teacher must never teach by words when a child can see, hear or touch an object for himself. Nature can teach the child better than man can.

c. Activity. The child is expected to be continually active in seeing for himself, making and correcting mistakes, describing his observations, analyzing objects and satisfying his natural curiosity.

d. Induction. The child must observe, learn to express his impressions of concrete objects perceived by the senses and must learn to formulate new generalizations for himself.

e. No Books. Early elementary education needs direct and concrete experience rather than books. In this way the child proceeds from the concrete to the abstract.

f. Simplify All Subjects. All subjects are reduced to their simple elements. The child proceeds, through experiencing the simple parts, to formulate more abstract generalizations.

5. DISCIPLINE. Pestalozzi asserted that the teacher must earn the trust of the children. He advocated a policy of "thinking love" in handling children. The schoolroom must possess the atmosphere of a loving Christian family. The members of this family are cooperative, loving and kind to one another. Pestalozzi deplored the harsh treatment of children which was widespread during this period of history. He felt that restrictive measures limit the teacher-pupil relationship and prevent the natural development of children and that this is especially true in moral matters.

INFLUENCE OF PESTALOZZI. In addition to being a great influence upon the elementary school system of Prussia, he influenced American education. The superintendent of schools in Oswego, New York, Dr. Edward A. Sheldon, imported the materials developed in England and Canada from Pestalozzi. This led to the establishment of a teacher normal school to prepare teachers in the application of Pestalozzi's method. The Normal School at Oswego (established in 1861), became the center of Pestalozzi education in the United States. An investigation of this school by the N.E.A. in 1865 resulted in a favorable report. This led to changes elsewhere in the country. The future normal schools that developed throughout the West adopted the Oswego plan. As new teachers rose to administrative positions in the United States, the teachings of Pestalozzi became active in countless school systems.

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