Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi: Immaginative And Unselfish Child

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Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, Swiss social reformer, and educator, he was born on January 12, 1746, in Zürich and he died on February 17, 1827, in Brugg. The modern age of education started with him and his ideas and spirit led to the great educational reforms in Europe in the nineteenth century. His early life played a significant role in his later development and interests. The death of his father, at age thirty-three, left Pestalozzi's mother with three young children and limited financial resources. However, with the help of a faithful servant, Barbara Schmid, the two women devoted their lives to raising the children. The roots of Pestalozzi's belief in the 'original goodness of man and of his dedication to the poor' resulted from the unfailing love and attention given by his mother and this servant (Silber, 1960, p. 4). Throughout his career and writings, the influence of these women was evident. Pestalozzi also recognized the importance of a close relationship between the home and education in the school to help ensure the child's success. …show more content…
His writings continually emphasized the importance of the mother in a child's life and the impact the mother-child relationship had on the child's development. Although Pestalozzi was known as an imaginative and unselfish child, these attributes were overshadowed by his lack of social skills and practical abilities. The intense love and devotion by his mother and faithful servant resulted in a sheltered environment and limited opportunity to interact with other children or develop practical skills. Young Pestalozzi's awkward behavior and eccentricities in social situations further ostracized him among his young peers. These early social difficulties impacted Pestalozzi's philosophy of education and resulted in his emphasis on practical training and socialization of the child. (Bowers & Gehring, 2004) Moreover, Pestalozzi wrote books based on his theories about education. "Children should learn through activity and through things (hands-on tools). They should be free to pursue their own interests and draw their own conclusions." When Pestalozzi argued that children receive a great education when there was a balance between the three elements of head, heart and hands. Pursuing this balance of hands, heart and head, Pestalozzi was against the corporal punishment of kids, because as a part of the heart there should be love, without love, head and hand cannot develop. Pestalozzi wanted to move schooling away from education as an old way of using old teaching methods. So he became concerned with everything dealing with school, children, and the idea that children should be finding out things (answers) for themselves. He was about putting that which is right and good before …show more content…
On the other hand, while Rousseau was a historical mentor for him, Pestalozzi revised Rousseau method and readapted Rousseau’s single-child tutorial method into simultaneous group instruction. Moreover, he believed that schools could become centers of effective leaning, while Rousseau rejected schools. But for both, “to know” meant to understand nature, its patterns and its laws. (Ornstein, Levine, & Gutek, 2011)
In the nineteenth century, the object lessons of Pestalozzi were introduced into the American elementary-school curriculum and his general method was appropriate to the American educators who focus on the needs of children. In addition to that, his belief that education should be directed to the mind and the emotions stimulate educators to create strategies to encourage both affective and cognitive learning. (Ornstein, Levine, & Gutek,

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