Luther, with his profound sense of what the people needed, was the first to raise the school for the people to the position of a national institution, and thereby to become the founder of the common-school system of Germany (comp. bis excellent address to the German nobility in 1520, Schrift an die Rathsherren aller Stddte DeutschL.etc. [1524]; and the art. Parochial Scnooi^). He demanded that the people should receive instruc- tion, not only in the family, but also in the school ; that the children of citizens should be compelled to attend
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the schools, and that the town -schools should give special attention to tlie study of Latin, while music and physical training should not be neglected. Melancthon and the other leading Eeformers of the Ifith century seconded his efforts. Bugenhagen, Brenz, Zwingli, and Calvin all gave attention to tl)is work (comp. Schenk, Joh. Calvin in seiner pddagog. Wirksanikeit [18G4]). Many practical difficulties arose, of course, especially in North (Jermany, and only the mere beginnings of a school system could be realized. The dogmatic dis- putes of the IGth and the miseries of the 17th cen- tury followed, and prevented any further development (Schenkel, Allgem. kirchl. Zeitschr. [18G3]). The su- perior schools were conducted in the humanistic spirit, the most important services in this direction being ren- dered in Strasburg by Joh. Sturm, who was the leading schoolman of his time. The schools of the Jesuits, which controlled the education of the 17th century, had only the appearance of scientific institutions, whose sole object w^as to bind thought to an authoritative formalism by means of the Latin language, and at the same time to strengthen the Komish element (comp. Weicker, D. Schulwesen d. Jesuiten nach d. Ordensyeset- zen darcjestellt [Halle, 1863]). The empiricism which Bacon introduced into philosophy gradually asserted itself in the sphere of pedagogics also. Michael IMon- taigne (1533-1502) demanded first of all a knowledge of the world; W. Ratich, of Holstein (1571-1035), be- came a fanatical exponent -of the Baconian ideas; and John Amos Comenius (1502-1671), bishop of the Bo- hemian Brethren, applied them in a more considerate and commendable wa}'. — Among Roman Catholics but little was done for education at this time. The only name we can mention is that of Carlo Borromeo (1538- 1584), archbishop of Milan. Nor was anything of im- portance accomplished within that Church during the century that followed the peace of Westphalia. The reformatory efforts in this direction — bv the Jansenists, the Port-Royalists, the Fathers of tlie Oratory, and Fenelon, who wrote, among other subjects of this nat- ure, on the education of females — were all directed against the Jesuits. A renewed interest in Germany for popular education was produced by the pietism of Spener and Aug. Herm. Francke (1063-1727), the latter of whom, especially, aimed to develop the man into the Christian (comp. reports of the Pedagofjium, Latin School, and School for German Citizens in the Orphan House at Halle). The JMoraviaus are especially promi- nent as pedagogical missionaries. — The revolution in pedagogics, which had resulted in a direct contrast to all former, and especiall}' all churchly, systems of educa- tion, is illustrated in the theories of Jean Jacques Rous- seau (1712-1778). His principle of a " return to nature" involved, as the ideal to be sought in education, the complete unfolding of the natural man ; and it suggest- ed, as the means to this end, the isolation of the indi- vidual, his separation from a world that is ruined by culture (comp. his Contrat Social; Emile: La Nouvelle Heloise ; also the biography by Venedey [Berlin^ 1850] and by .Morley [Lond. and N. Y., 1874, 2 vols. 8 vo ] ). The first of the so-called Realschulen was founded at this time (1730) by Semler (q. v.) at Halle, and otiiers rap- idly followed. Their founders had been pupils of Francke, and the influence of these men saved the schools from Rousseau's enthusiasm for the natural man. Basedow (1723-1700), however, was seized by it, and developed it into an external utilitarianism, which he sought to reduce to practice in the Philan- thropinuni at Dessau (1774). He held that the pro- motion of the physical well-being and the enlightening of the understanding are infallible means for developing children " into Europeans who shall be harmless, valu- able to the community, and contented." The institu- tions founded by Bahrdt served merely to caricature the utilitarian tendency; but the writings of Campc, Salz- mann, and others show the real service Basedow ren- dered in directing atteniion to the study of tlie physi-
cal sciences (geographj% natural philosophy, etc.). The false prevalent cosmopolitanism, the inclination to give attention solely to immediate practical wants and the vapid philosophies, indicate clearly the faults of this realistic theory of pedagogics; but it must be credited with having exerted a vast influence over the educa- tion of the world.
The latest wra in the history of pedagogics begins at the opening of our own century with Pestalozzi (q. v.), who advocated the idea that the people sliould be edu- cated on the method that is implanted in human nat- ure, according to which education must begin with immediate study of the object, and proceed from this starting-point to the development of the various intel- lectual and physical powers. Tliis is still the deter- mining idea in modern education ; but Pestalozzi him- self, who, while tilled with love for the people, was yet a thoroughly unpractical man, could only seek its reali- zation, but not attain it. It was taken up by others, however, and applied to the work of education in the most diversified forms. It finds expression in the form of schools for the indigent, of institutions for the blind and deaf-mutes, of houses of refuge, of orphan asylums, etc.