The
First Progressive Educator
James Scott Johnston·
Memorial University, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Review of: Robert Louden, Johann Bernard Basedow and the Transformation of Modern Education:
Educational Reform in the German Enlightenment, London, Bloomsbury, 2021, 225 p. ISBN: 9781350163669.
Johann Bernhard Basedow is known to philosophers and historians of the 18th
century primarily as the impetus for Immanuel Kant’s letters of support to the Philanthropin, or
the school that Basedow ran in Dessau, Prussia. He is
also known as one of several Enlightenment figures who inaugurated the
progressive movement in educational thought. Beyond this, he is little known in
contemporary Anglo-American intellectual circles, and this despite his stature
in Europe and especially, Germany. Indeed, there is so little scholarship in Basedow in the history of philosophy in Anglo-America, one
would be tempted to say he is of little importance. But this would be a gross
error. Basedow is important not only as a figure for the
study of Kant, but the history of educational thought. It was he, and not Rousseau,
Louden will claim, that deserves the moniker, father
of progressive education. German scholarship has long held a place of
importance for Basedow and his pedagogical theories;
the place for Basedow’s role in progressive education
that should be occupied by him sits empty in Anglo-American understandings of
educational thought and philosophy and this lacuna inhibits us from telling a
complete story of the history and development of progressive education.
Very fortunately, we now have Louden’s biography and history of the development of the Philanthropin and
Basedow. This is the very first exposition of both Basedow and his school available in English. Though there
are numerous monographs in German on Basedow and the Philanthropin
(most recently, perhaps, is Jürgen Overhoff’s Johan Bernhard Basedow
(1724-1790), such scholarship has never been forthcoming in English until
now (Overhoff, 2020).[1]
Louden’s book is a biography—an intellectual
biography—of Basedow, together with lengthy sections
on the development of Philanthropin and his
various publications, including his Methodenbuch and his multi-volume Elementarwerke. Along the way, we
are given an account of Basedow’s early intellectual
development, as well as key experiences that led him to become the chief
proponent of progressive education in 18th century Prussia.
I will discuss Louden’s
book by examining four stages in Basedow’s life that it
outlines. The first is his childhood and early adult intellectual development.
The second is his publication of the Methodenbuch and Elementarwerk. The third is his management of the Philanthropin,
including his relationship to Kant. Finally, I will discuss his uptake in broader
German and European history of educational thought and say something more of
why and how Louden’s book is so important for
contemporary scholarship.
Chapter One introduces the Philanthropin—Basedow’s school
that opened December 27th, 1774 and closed
(well after Basedow resigned for the final time as
head in 1778) in 1793. The school was unique for offering a non-denominational,
though nevertheless Christian, education. Beyond this, the pedagogy of rote
learning was de-emphasized if not abandoned, and a conversation-based approach
to foreign languages was introduced. Books were designed to instruct children
in various disciplines. Many of these contained copper engravings, which proved
popular for children, teachers, and parents alike. Clothing rules were relaxed
(somewhat), the poor were invited to attend (set-asides were established to cover
the expense). (It appears the education children received was heavily gendered,
in keeping with the times as well as Rousseau’s edicts in Émile.) Teacher-training, which was novel in the 18th
century, was also provided.
Chapters 2-3 cover Basedow’s personal and intellectual development from
childhood to early adulthood. We learn that Basedow
had a voracious appetite for learning, but he was also a difficult person. He
was easily provoked, especially when his ideas were not taken seriously or
dismissed without due consideration. He had a tendency to
be quarrelsome, even bellicose. This would ill-serve him when managing the Philanthropin.
His pedagogical ideas emerged quite early; by 1749, at the end of his period as
Hofmeister to the von Qualen family in Borghorst, he had a rudimentary establishment of the
principles of pedagogy that would later find their way into his Magister’s
thesis, as well as 1770’s Methodenbuch and Elementarwerk.
Chapters 4-6 detail Basedow’s emerging scholarship as a leading pedagogue. Basedow’s early experiences as pedagogue began after he
defended his Magister’s thesis at Kiel in 1752. He was first employed as a
professor at the Ritterakademie
in Denmark and was subsequently “demoted” and sent to the Gymnasium Christianeum in Altona. This
would be the first of many subsequent transitions from employment to
employment, until settling down with the establishment of the Philanthropinum.
During this time, he continued his trend of voluminous publication, averaging
at this time approximately 3 books per year. He completed over 100 books in his
lifetime, perhaps much of his prodigious output due to insomnia. In the 1760’s
he was employed by the Danish court, and his star had begun to rise. So, too,
however, had his notoriety: many thought he had effectively banished the Bible
from instruction and numerous complaints were made to the Danish court. Basedow prevailed,
however, and by the late 1760’s was on the threshold of his two masterpieces—the
Methodenbuch
and Elementarwerk.
In my opinion, chapters 7-8 are the
central ones of the book. Here, both the Methodenbuch fur Vater und Mutter der Familien
und Volker (1770) and Elementarwerk (1770) are given lengthy consideration. Not
only do we see how Basedow’s earlier iterations of
his pedagogy inform the later, but we are also treated to a comprehensive
examination of the books themselves. Numerous and frequent quotes from Basedow’s manuscripts are provided for English readers
unable to access the originals. Copious citations from the books helps the
reader unfamiliar with Basedow’s work get a good
sense of his achievement. This feature of Louden’s is
particularly welcome, as it provides many with the first exposure to Basedow’s own writing. As these are lengthy volumes (the Elementarwerk stretches
to 4 volumes), they are difficult to summarize, yet Louden
does an able job of teasing out the highlights.
Basedow’s Philanthropin concerns the content of Chapter 9 and
Chapter 10 the last years of his life. Basedow’s
attempt to put his ideas of the Methodenbuch
and Elementarwerk into practice yielded mixed
results. On the one hand, Basedow presided over the
most enlightened of all schools yet developed. On the other, the leadership of
the school betrayed the divisions between Basedow and
his teaching staff. Funding was a perennial issue. The school itself was a
curious mix of freedom and regimentation: children were subjected to a rigorous
and demanding daily schedule despite the prevalence of play in the curriculum.
There was a marked difference in the treatment of pensionists,
whose parents had purchased a seat for their child, and famulants,
or impoverished children provided an education with a reduced tuition. The pensionist’s curriculum was more detailed and rigorous,
while the famulant’s curriculum emphasized ‘basic’
education, together with a stress on trades (e.g., carpentry) as well as
serving the pensionists during mealtimes. Non-denominational
religious studies, perhaps the most progressive element of Basedow’s
progressive curriculum, were staple curricula for both pensionists
and famulants.
Basedow would resign the
directorship of the Philanthropin at least
twice during his tenure. The final resignation occurred in 1778. He remained
the liturgist of the school until 1780. After his departure, the school
continued under new directorship. Basedow’s
temperament led to a succession of qualified teachers and organizers to leave,
including his successor, Heinrich Christian Wolke. If Basedow’s
German biographers are to be believed, his final days were anti-climactic. He
volunteered at Anna Maria Dorothea Kalisky’s school
for girls in Magdeburg. He died in 1794, age 66.
Louden’s
intellectual biography shows us that Basedow was
decidedly not the ‘German Rousseau.’ Indeed, his ideas, in germination as early
as the 1740’s can properly be said to precede the latter’s. While Kant’s
insistence that the Philanthropin is the
future of humane education, and his active sponsorship of the institute helped
establish its bona fides among Prussia’s intellectual circles (to say nothing
of Kant scholarship), Louden’s book shows us that it
was Basedow, above all, who theorized what would
become progressive education. Louden’s book details
the intellectual and biographical dimensions of Basedow
and the Philanthropin. It gives us a deep
summary and discussion of his leading publications. It should be read not only
by Kant scholars and those interested in Enlightenment philosophy, but those interested
in the history of progressive education and educational thought. It is a
crucial first step in what we truly need; a fuller approximation of Basedow’s major works in English, including perhaps an
abridged translation of the Methodenbuch and Elementarwerk.
