4

1. MARTIN LUTHER  Martin Luther was born on November 10, 1483,

in

Eisleben, Saxony, in modern southeast Germany.  Martin Luther’s parents, Hans and Margarette Luther, were of peasant linage. However Hans had some success as a miner and ore smelter, and in 1484 the family moved from Eisleben to nearby Mansfeld, where Hans held ore deposits.  Hans Luther knew that mining was a tough business and wanted his promising son to have better: He wanted him to become a lawyer. At age seven, Martin Luther entered school in Mansfeld. At 14 Martin Luther went north to Magdeburg, where he continued his studies. In 1498, he returned to Eisleben and enrolled in a school, studying grammar, rhetoric and logic. He later compared this experience to purgatory and hell.  In 1501, Martin Luther entered the University of Erfurt, where he received a Master of Arts degree in grammar, logic, rhetoric and metaphysics. At this time, it seemed he was on his way to becoming a lawyer.  In July 1505, Luther had a life-changing experience that set him on a new course to becoming a monk. Caught in a horrific thunderstorm where he feared for his life, Luther cried out to St. Anne, the patron saint of miners, “Save me, St. Anne, and I’ll become a monk!” The storm subsided and he was saved. Most historians believe this was not a spontaneous act, but an idea already formulated in Luther’s mind. The decision to become a monk was difficult and greatly disappointed his father, but he felt he must keep a promise. Luther was also driven by fears of hell and God’s wrath, and felt that life in a monastery would help him find salvation.

 The first few years of monastic life were difficult for Martin Luther, as he did not find the religious enlightenment he was seeking. A mentor told him to focus his life exclusively on Christ and this would later provide him with the guidance he sought.  At age 27, Luther was given the opportunity to be a delegate to a Catholic church conference in Rome. He came away more disillusioned, and very discouraged by the immorality and corruption he witnessed there among the Catholic priests. Upon his return to Germany, he enrolled in the University of Wittenberg in an attempt to suppress his spiritual turmoil. He excelled in his studies and received a doctorate, becoming a professor of theology at the university.  Through his studies of scripture, Martin Luther finally gained religious enlightenment. Beginning in 1513, while preparing lectures, Luther read the first line of Psalm 22, which Christ wailed in his cry for mercy on the cross, a cry similar to Luther’s own disillusionment with God and religion. Two years later, while preparing a lecture on Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, he read, “The just will live by faith.” He dwelled on this statement for some time. Finally, he realized the key to spiritual salvation was not to fear God or be enslaved by religious dogma but to believe that faith alone would bring salvation. This period marked a major change in his life and set in motion the Reformation.  Following the publication of his 95 Theses, Martin Luther continued to lecture and write in Wittenberg. In June and July of 1519 Luther publicly declared that the Bible did not give the pope the exclusive right to interpret scripture, which was a direct attack on the authority of the papacy. Finally, in 1520, the pope had had enough and on June 15 issued an ultimatum threatening Luther with excommunication. On December 10, 1520, Luther publicly burned the letter. In January 1521, Martin Luther was officially excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.

 In March 1521, Luther was summoned before the Diet of Worms, a general assembly of secular authorities. Again, Luther refused to recant his statements, demanding he be shown any scripture that would refute his position. There was none. On May 8, 1521, the council released the Edict of Worms, banning Luther’s writings and declaring him a “convicted heretic.” This made him a condemned and wanted man. Friends helped him hide out at the Wartburg Castle. While in seclusion, he translated the New Testament into the German language, to give ordinary people the opportunity to read God’s word.  In 1525, Martin Luther married Katharina von Bora, a former nun who had abandoned the convent and taken refuge in Wittenberg. Together, over the next several years, they had six children.  From 1533 to his death in 1546, Martin Luther served as the dean of theology at University of Wittenberg. During this time he suffered from many illnesses, including arthritis, heart problems and digestive disorders. The physical pain and emotional strain of being a fugitive might have been reflected in his writings. Some works contained strident and offensive language against several segments of society, particularly Jews and to a lesser degree, Muslims, including Luther’s treatise The Jews and Their Lies.  Martin Luther died on February 18, 1546 at the age of 62 during a trip to his hometown of Eisleben.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION:  Martin Luther was at the forefront of those who realized the need for change in education, and with characteristic zeal he sought to effect improvements in Wittenberg and throughout Germany. While he composed only a few works that treat education directly, his other writings often reveal an attempt to relate education to the doctrinal rediscoveries of the

Reformation, and especially to subject learning to the "theology of the cross". The few treatises Luther did dedicate strictly to education had such impact that they may be deemed seminal for the development of reformed schooling in the sixteenth century. These works not only influenced teachers and preachers throughout Germany, but they also encouraged other theologians to consider the role of education in society.  Another treatise by Luther on education is the so-called "Sermon on Keeping Children in School" (1530), published in the form of an open letter. Having received disappointing results of a survey regarding the improvement of life in church, home and school, Luther realised that his earlier call for educational reform had gone largely unheeded. Clearly, changing the thought and behaviour of people would not be so easy as Luther had hoped at first. Many parents still preferred to direct their children to the work force and the immediate material rewards it would afford, than to invest in spiritual development and moral reform. Luther's wish for them is that they "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well (Matthew 6:31-33).

2. ST JOHN BAPTIST DE LA SALLE  Born April 30, 1651 to one of few wealthy families in France, John Baptist privileged

de

La

enough

Salle to

was

receive

formal schooling. (Saint JeanBaptiste, n.d.). By age 16, La Salle was appointed Canon of the Cathedral at Reims. He studied theology at the College Des Bons Enfants and after receiving a Masters in Arts was sent to Paris to attend the seminary of Saint- Sulpice. La

Salle reached status of ordained priest in 1678 and two years later earned a doctorate in theology from the University of Reims.  Upon earning his doctorate, La Salle became the protector of the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus, a school run charity for girls. In order to be more effective in his charitable endeavor,

and

possibly

to

better

understand

the

circumstances of those whom he aimed to serve, La Salle renounced his position as Canon and left his family’s home and wealth to move in with teachers, forming a community that became known as the Brothers of the Christian Schools, or the de La Salle Brothers (Saint John Baptist, 2010).  Despite dissent from certain groups, La Salle succeeded in establishing this novel type of school. These schools were unique in their place and time for several reasons. For one, students were taught in colloquial language rather than in the language of the wealthy and the clergy. Within the schools, students were divided into groups based on ability and were taught an integrated curriculum of religious and secular instruction (Saint John Baptist, 2010). Students were taught by nonclerics who believed in La Salle’s mission. In order to outfit his schools with competent instructors, La Salle instituted programs for training “lay teachers,” and even offered education class on Sunday for those who worked during the week (Saint John Baptist, 2010). La Salle also became famous for developing a teaching method known as “the Simultaneous Method.” This current day class method involves one person (the teacher) reading while others follow along pointing to the words and reading them silently (Knight, 2009). CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION

 The lack of education of the working class and the poor became a concern for La Salle. It was this sector of the

population that would receive his full attention. La Salle’s primary interest was the education of male teachers, who would later be employed as teachers of working class and poor boys.  He also believed that everything learned in life must be functional, in that one would be able to use the knowledge later in life. In his teachings, he emphasized a practical approach to all subjects. To this end, La Salle had his teachers teach in the vernacular, rather than in the language of the church or the upper class (Saint Jean Baptist de la Salle, 2010.) This allowed the students to share what they had learned with their parents, extending the knowledge to more people. classes. Also, the fact that La Salle chose to educate lay people to become teachers suggests that he valued well-prepared teachers who were educated in foundations of Education.  Based on the population that La Salle aimed to serve in the schools that he founded, it is possible that his goals for education were socially motivated and aimed at creating equity among the people of France and the world through equal opportunities for education. However, because La Salle’s curriculum included religious as well as secular instruction, La Salle held religious guidance as a goal of education.

3. FRIEDRICH FROEBEL  (born

April

21,

1782,

Oberweissbach, Thuringia,

Ernestine

Saxony [now in Germany]—died June 21, 1852  German educator who was founder of the kindergarten and one of the most influential educational reformers of the 19th century.

Froebel was the fifth child in a clergyman’s family. His mother died when he was only nine months old, and he was neglected as a child until an uncle gave him a home and sent him to school. Froebel acquired a thorough knowledge of plants and natural phenomena while at the same time beginning the study of mathematics and forester,

he

languages.

pursued

some

After apprenticeship informal

university

to a

courses

at Jena until he was jailed for an unpaid debt. He tried various kinds of employment until he impulsively took a teaching appointment at a progressive model school in Frankfurt run by Anton Gruner on lines advocated by the Swiss educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. Froebel became convinced of his vocation as a teacher at the school.  After two years as assistant to Gruner, Froebel went to Yverdon, Switz., where he came into close contact with Pestalozzi. Though he learned much at Yverdon, he quickly discovered the weakness of organization that characterized Pestalozzi’s work. In 1811 Froebel entered the University of Göttingen, where military service in the Napoleonic Wars soon interrupted his studies. During the campaign of 1813 he formed a lasting friendship with H. Langenthal and W. Middendorff, who became his devoted followers and who joined him at a school he opened at Griesheim in Thuringia in 1816. Two years later the school moved to Keilhau, also in Thuringia, and it was there that Froebel put into practice his educational theories. He and his friends

and

their

wives

became

a

kind

of

educational community, and the school expanded into a flourishing institution. During this time Froebel wrote numerous articles

and

in

1826

published

his

most

important treatise, Menschenerziehung (The Education of Man), a philosophical presentation of principles and methods pursued at Keilhau.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION:  His most important contribution to educational theory was his belief in “self-activity” and play as essential factors in child education. The teacher’s role was not to drill or indoctrinate the children but rather to encourage their self-expression through play, both individually and in group activities. Froebel devised circles, spheres, and other toys—all of which he referred to as “gifts” or “occupations”—that were designed to stimulate learning through play activities accompanied by songs and music. Modern educational techniques in kindergarten and preschool are much indebted to him.

4. JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU  born June 28, 1712, Geneva, Switzerland—died July 2, 1778, Ermenonville, France), Swissborn philosopher, writer, and political theorist whose treatises and novels inspired the leaders of the French Revolution and the Romantic generation.  Rousseau was the least academic of modern philosophers and in many ways was the most influential. His thought marked the end

of

the Age

and ethicalthinking

of

Reason.

into

new

He

propelled

channels.

His

political reforms

revolutionized taste, first in music, then in the other arts. He had a profound impact on people’s way of life; he taught parents to take a new interest in their children and to educate them differently; he furthered the expression of emotion rather than polite restraint in friendship and love. He introduced the cult of religious sentiment among

people

who

had

discarded

religious dogma. He opened people’s eyes to the beauties of nature,

and

he

made

almost universal aspiration.

liberty

an

object

of

CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION: a view of children as very different to adults – as innocent, vulnerable, slow to mature – and entitled to freedom and happiness (Darling 1994: 6). In other words, children are naturally good. 

the idea that people develop through various stages – and that different forms of education may be appropriate to each.



a guiding principle that what is to be learned should be determined by an understanding of the person’s nature at each stage of their development.



an appreciation that individuals vary within stages – and that education must as a result be individualized. ‘Every mind has its own form’



each and every child has some fundamental impulse to activity. Restlessness in time being replaced by curiosity; mental activity being a direct development of bodily activity.



the power of the environment in determining the success of educational encounters. It was crucial – as Dewey also recognized – that educators attend to the environment. The more they were able to control it – the more effective would be the education.



the controlling function of the educator – The child, Rousseau argues, should remain in complete ignorance of those ideas which are beyond his/her grasp. (This he sees as a fundamental principle).



the importance of developing ideas for ourselves, to make sense of the world in our own way. People must be encouraged to reason their way through to their own conclusions – they should not rely on the authority of the teacher. Thus, instead of being taught other people’s ideas, Émile is encouraged to draw his own conclusions from his own experience. What we know today as ‘discovery learning’ One example, Rousseau gives is of Émile breaking a window – only to find he gets cold because it is left unrepaired.



a concern for both public and individual education.

5. JOHANN FRIEDRICH HERBART  Herbart was born on 4 May 1776

in Oldenburg.

German

philosopher Johann Friedrich Herbart is the founder of the pedagogical theory that bears his name, which eventually laid the groundwork for teacher education as a university enterprise in the United States and elsewhere. Herbart was born in Oldenburg, Germany, the only child of a gifted and strong-willed mother and a father whose attention was devoted to his legal practice. Herbart was tutored at home until he entered the gymnasium at the age of twelve, from which he went on as valedictorian to the University of Jena at a time when such stellar German intellectuals as Johann Gottfried Herder, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and Friedrich von Schiller were associated with that institution.

It

was

apparently

Schiller's Briefe

über

die

ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen (Letters concerning the aesthetic education of man), then in progress in 1795, that influenced Herbart to devote himself to philosophy and education. CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION 

Rejected the whole concept of faculties and regarded mental life as the manifestation of the elementary sensory units or “presentations.”



Herbartianism advocated five formal steps in teaching: 1. Preparation 2. Presentation 3. Association 4. Generalization 5. Application

6. JOHANN HEIRICH PESTALOZZI  Pestalozzi was born on January 12, 1746,

in Zürich, Switzerland.

His

father was a surgeon and oculist who died at age 33 when Pestalozzi, the second of three children, was 6 years old; he belonged to a family who had fled the area around Locarno due to its Protestant faith. His mother, whose maiden name was Hotze, was a native of Wädenswil on the lake of Zürich.The family also had a maid, Barbara Schmid, nicknamed Babeli. After the death of Pestalozzi's father it was only through the help of Babeli that Pestalozzi's mother could financially support the family. CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION:  Pestalozzi was a Romantic who felt that education must be broken down to its elements in order to have a complete understanding of it. Based on what he learned by operating schools

at

Neuhof,

Stans,

Burgdorf

and

Yverdon,

he

emphasized that every aspect of the child's life contributed to the formation of his personality, character, and capacity to reason. Pestalozzi's educational methods were child-centered and based on individual differences, sense perception, and the student's

self-activity.

Pestalozzi

worked

in

Yverdon

to

"elementarize" the teaching of ancient languages, principally Latin, but also Hebrew and Greek. In 1819, Stephan Ludwig Roth came to study with Pestalozzi, and his new humanism contributed to the development of the method of language teaching, including considerations such as the function of the mother tongue in the teaching of ancient languages. Pestalozzi and Niederer were important influences on the theory of physical education; they developed a regimen of physical exercise and outdoor activity linked to general, moral, and intellectual

education that reflected Pestalozzi's ideal of harmony and human autonomy.  Pestalozzi's philosophy of education was based on a foursphere concept of life and the premise that human nature was essentially good. The first three "exterior" spheres—home and family, vocational and individual self-determination, and state and nation—recognized the family, the utility of individuality, and the applicability of the parent-child relationship to society as a whole in the development of a child's character, attitude toward learning, and sense of duty. The last "exterior" sphere—inner sense—posited that education, having provided a means of satisfying one's basic needs, results in inner peace and a keen belief in God.  Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, Swiss social reformer and educator, is known as the Father of Modern Education. The modern era of education started with him and his spirit and ideas led to the great educational reforms in Europe in the nineteenth century.  Pestalozzi believed in the ability of every individual human being to learn and in the right of every individual to education. He believed that it was the duty of society to put this right into practice. His beliefs led to education becoming democratic; in Europe, education became available for everyone.  Pestalozzi was particularly concerned about the condition of the poor. Some of them did not go to school. If they did, the school education was often useless for their needs. He wanted to provide them with an education which would make them independent and able to improve their own lives.  Pestalozzi believed that education should develop the powers of ‘Head’, ‘Heart’ and ‘Hands’. He believed that this would help create individuals who are capable of knowing what is right and what is wrong and of acting according to this knowledge. Thus the well-being of every individual could be improved and each individual could become a responsible citizen. He believed that empowering and ennobling every individual in this way was the

only way to improve society and bring peace and security to the world. His aim was for a complete theory of education that would lead to a practical way of bringing happiness to humankind.  Pestalozzi saw teaching as a subject worth studying in its own right and he is therefore known as the father of pedagogy (the method and practice of teaching, especially as an academic subject or theoretical concept). He caused education to become a separate branch of knowledge, alongside politics and other recognised areas of knowledge.  Pestalozzi’s approach has had massive influence on education, for example, his influence, as well as his relevance to education today, is clear in the importance now put on: 

The interests and needs of the child



A child-centred rather than teacher-centred approach to teaching



Active rather than passive participation in the learning experience



The freedom of the child based on his or her natural development balanced with the self-discipline to function well as an individual and in society



The child having direct experience of the world and the use of natural objects in teaching



The use of the senses in training pupils in observation and judgment



Cooperation between the school and the home and between parents and teachers



The importance of an all-round education – an education of the head, the heart and the hands, but which is led by the heart



The use of systemized subjects of instruction, which are also carefully graduated and illustrated



Learning which is cross-curricular and includes a varied school life



Education which puts emphasis on how things are taught as well as what is taught



Authority based on love, not fear



Teacher training  Pestalozzi’s influence over the spirit, the methods and the theory of education has continued into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and most of his principles have been assimilated into the modern system of education.