Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi ( ; ; ; 12 January 1746 – 17 February 1827) was a Swiss pedagogue and educational reformer who exemplified Romanticism in his approach.
He founded several educational institutions both in German- and French-speaking regions of Switzerland and wrote many works explaining his revolutionary modern principles of education. His motto was "Learning by head, hand and heart". Thanks to Pestalozzi, illiteracy in 18th-century Switzerland was overcome almost completely by 1830.
Life Early years, 1746–1765
Pestalozzi was born on 12 January 1746, in Zürich, Switzerland. His father was a surgeon and oculist who died at age 33 when Pestalozzi, the second of three children, was five 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.
In 1761, Pestalozzi attended the Gymnasium (Collegium Humanitatis) and received instruction from educators Johann Jakob Bodmer, who taught history and politics, and Johann Jakob Breitinger, who taught Greek and Hebrew.
On holidays Pestalozzi would visit his maternal grandfather, a clergyman in Höngg. Together they would travel to schools and the houses of parishioners. It was through these visits that Pestalozzi learned the poverty of country peasants. He saw the consequences of putting children to work in factories at an early age and he saw how little the Catechism schools did for them. Their ignorance, suffering and inability to help themselves left an impression on Pestalozzi, an impression that would guide his future educational ideas.
Pestalozzi was educated to become a clergyman. As a clergyman, he expected to have ample opportunity to carry out his educational ideas; however, the failure of his first sermon and influence from philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau led him to pursue a career in law and political justice.
Young adulthood and early political aspirations, 1765–1767 During the mid-18th century the government in Switzerland condemned Rousseau's Emile and Social Contract, saying they were dangerous to the State and the Christian religion. A prison sentence was issued upon Rousseau. Bodmer, Pestalozzi's former professor, embraced the teachings of Rousseau and founded the Helvetic Society with about 20 other philosophers in 1765. Their goal was the advancement of freedom. The 19-year-old Pestalozzi was an active member, contributing many articles to the Society's newspaper, Der Erinnerer.
Pestalozzi brought to light several cases of official corruption and was believed to be an accessory to the escape of a fellow newspaper contributor. Although he was later proven innocent, he was under arrest for three days. These events caused Pestalozzi to have many political enemies and destroyed any hope of a legal career.
Neuhof, 1769–1779
After the failure of his political aspirations and at the suggestion of several friends, Pestalozzi decided to become a farmer. During this time, Johann Rudolf Tschiffeli, who was also a member of the Helvetic Society, attracted widespread attention regarding his successful business model. He had converted a large plot of worthless land into several valuable farms. In 1767 Pestalozzi visited Tschiffeli to learn about his method. After a year with Tschiffeli, Pestalozzi purchased 15 acres of waste land in the neighborhood of Zürich. He obtained financial support from a Zürich banker, bought more land and, in 1769, he married Anna Schulthess.
Pestalozzi began to build a house on the heavily mortgaged property, calling it "Neuhof". The land he had bought, however, was unsuitable to farm. Unfavorable reports led the banker to withdraw his support. Pestalozzi added a wool-spinning business to the farm, hoping to improve his financial situation. The challenges increased as much as his debt. Three months after their financial support was withdrawn, Schulthess gave birth to the couple's only son, Jean-Jacques Pestalozzi. He was nicknamed Schaggeli and often had epileptic fits that led Pestalozzi and Schulthess to worry constantly about his health.
Transition from farm to industrial school at Neuhof After the failure of his farming venture, Pestalozzi wanted to help the poor. He had been poor himself most of his life and had observed orphans who gained apprenticeships as farmers only to be overworked and underfed. He desired to teach them how to live self-respecting lives. This led him to the conception of converting Neuhof into an industrial school. Against the wishes of his wife's family, Pestalozzi gained the support of philosopher Isaak Iselin of Basel, who published it in Die Ephemerides, a periodical devoted to social and economic questions. The publication led to subscriptions and loans free of interest. The new foundation had a short period of apparent prosperity, but after a year Pestalozzi's old faults again led the institution to near ruin. An appeal for public support in 1777 brought much-needed help, and Pestalozzi contributed to the periodical a series of letters on the education of the poor. The appeal, however, only postponed the failure of the institution. In 1779, Pestalozzi had to close Neuhof. With help from his friends, Pestalozzi was able to save the house at Neuhof for himself and his family to live in. Despite the property being saved, they were in financial ruin and were reduced to poverty. His family connections abandoned him, along with most people who had shown interest in his ideas.
Period of literary activity, 1780–1797 The Evening Hours of a Hermit, 1780 Iselin remained a friend of Pestalozzi and encouraged him to continue writing. In 1780 Pestalozzi published anonymously in Die Ephemerides, a series of aphorisms entitled The Evening Hours of a Hermit. They are his earliest works which outline ideas that would later be known as Pestalozzian. The aphorisms attracted little attention at the time of publication.
Leonard and Gertrude, 1781, 1783, 1785, 1787 Pestalozzi knew the country peasant life much more intimately than his contemporaries did, from the visits of his childhood with his grandfather to his current state of poverty. He drew from these experiences and published four volumes of a story titled Leonard and Gertrude. These four volumes revolve around the lives of four characters: Gertrude, Glüphi, an unnamed parish clergyman and Arner. Gertrude is a wife and mother from the village of Bonnal, who teaches her children how to live moral upstanding lives through the belief and love of God. Glüphi, a school teacher, sees the success Gertrude has with her children and tries to model his school around her teachings. A parish clergyman also adopts Gertrude's teachings and the work of Gertrude, Glüphi and the clergyman are helped by Arner, a politician, who solicits aid from the state. Through these four institutions, harmony is achieved and a comprehensive education is offered to all people.
The first volume was very successful; however, the second through fourth volumes were not widely published or read.
Fifth and sixth volumes Pestalozzi had planned a fifth and sixth volume, but the manuscript of the fifth was lost in his 1804 trip to Paris and it is not known if a sixth was ever written.
Christopher and Elizabeth and the Schweizerblatt, 1782 Pestalozzi wrote Christopher and Elizabeth in 1782 as a series of evening conversations to address social and political corruption. A weekly newspaper called the Schweizerblatt was also founded and disbanded during the same year with Pestalozzi briefly acting as the chief editor.
Enquiries into the Course of Nature in the Development of the Human Race, 1797 In 1794 Pestalozzi visited his sister in Leipzig. During the visit, he met Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Christoph Martin Wieland and Johann Gottfried Herder. On his return trip to Neuhof, he met Johann Gottlieb Fichte. Fichte saw in Pestalozzi's ideas the key to the solution of the educational problem, and suggested to Pestalozzi that he write about his views on human nature and the problem of its development. After three years, Pestalozzi wrote and published Enquiries into the Course of Nature in the development of the Human Race. Few people read his work, and in an 1821 edition, Pestalozzi wrote: "Scarcely any one has noticed the book, although it has been before the public for more than twenty years."
This work marked the end of his eighteen-year literary period, during which time Pestalozzi and his family lived a life of poverty. His wife was often ill, and in 1797 his son returned home from his apprenticeship in Basel in a similar state of health.
Stans, 1799
Political changes were taking place, and when serfdom was abolished in Switzerland in 1798, Pestalozzi decided to become an educator. He wrote a plan for a school and submitted it to Philipp Albert Stapfer, the new Minister of Arts and Sciences, who approved of Pestalozzi's plan. Pestalozzi was not able to implement his new school right away, because a suitable site could not be found quickly enough. In the meantime, Pestalozzi was asked to take charge of a government newspaper, the Helvetisches Volksblatt, in hopes that he could win the acceptance of the people of Switzerland. Political change of any kind during this period was viewed as tyrannical.
When the French army invaded the town of Stans in 1798, many children were left without a home or family. The Swiss government established an orphanage and recruited Pestalozzi on 5 December 1798, to take charge of the newly formed institution. On 7 December, Pestalozzi went to Stans, writing:
The buildings of the Ursuline Convent at Stans were supposed to have been converted into an orphanage, but little had been done when Pestalozzi arrived. On 14 January 1799, a number of orphans came to the newly established institution. Pestalozzi wrote, "They were in a dreadful condition, both of body and of mind". He took many roles at Stans, including a master, servant, father, guardian, sick-nurse and teacher. He had no school materials and his only assistant was a housekeeper.
Drawing from previous experience, his aim at Stans was similar to that of Neuhof: the combination of education and industry. However, he no longer looked at the products of the children's labors as a possible source of income. Any work was considered by Pestalozzi as a way to train physical dexterity, promote efficiency and encourage mutual helpfulness. He wanted to cultivate the fundamental activities of the mind—"the powers of attention, observation, and memory, which must precede the art of judgment and must be well established before the latter is exercised." It was during his time at Stans that Pestalozzi realized the significance of a universal method of education, which he would attempt to apply at future institutions.
In June 1799, the French army, after being defeated by the Austrians, took back Stans. They needed every available building to house their troops, and the school was broken up. Even during the short time of the orphanage, Pestalozzi's success was apparent in the well-being of the children. He left Stans in order to recover in Gurnigel, an Alpine health resort, hoping to return to the orphanage when the buildings were free, but he was not permitted to return.
Burgdorf, 1800–1804