Pestalozzi; an account of his life and work

Preface

*' Oh, how true it is that the teacher without psychology does his work as badly as an old woman doctoring." Thus wrote Steinmiiller in 1799, in relation to Pestalozzi's ideas. Pestalozzi said : " I want to psychologise instruction ". There is still some room for a modern Pestalozzi. Meantime much may be gained by a study of Pestalozzi's attempts to psychologise education. A study of origins is, to a student sufficiently well prepared, a great aid to the fullest grasp of pure theory ; for abstract science, so far as it is true, must proceed from and return to its simplest forms. To say the least of it, he is very much to be envied or pitied who cannot still learn something from Pestalozzi.

The aim of the present account of the life and work of Pestalozzi is to provide students, and teachers who still study, with the material for a thoughtful survey of the principles and practices of one of the greatest of the world's pioneer educators and educationists. Every effort has been made to set forth as clearly as possible what Pestalozzi thought, wrote, and did, and not to expound

IV PREFACE.

what the writer of this book thinks of what Pestalozzi thought, and wrote, and did. Of course this does not mean that no opinions are given; but great care has been taken to restrict these as much as possible. The greatest success of this volume will be that it gives the fullest opportunity, and greatest stimulus, to the readers to do their own thinking and formulate their own conclusions.

To this end very full and frequent quotations are made both from translations of Pestalozzi's works, and from the writings of those who knew him best; and were most competent to criticise, favourably and unfavourably, his work. Whilst this should be helpful as an easy introduction to a general view of the man and his work, it is hoped that it will also lead the reader to the original sources, or their translations. Those who have not thus gone to the original sources will be surprised to find how easily and quickly they can read through books for the reading of which the mind has already been well prepared.

This is to cultivate the true student method. Nothing is so mentally degrading as to regard a book as an examination task, and to be grateful to the writer in proportion as he has done all the thinking, and, so to say, tied up the results in well-arranged and plainly labelled parcels, so that they may be easily stored amongst the memory cargo, and readily unpacked when required. To aim at examination success only, or

PREFACE. V

mainly, is the most certain way of killing intellectual growth and development.

The educational function of a writer is to do for the readers what the wise teacher does for his pupils, i.e., give them the best materials, conditions and opportunities for self-activity and self-development. If this be done, the attitude and the aptitudes of the research student will be fostered, and a scientific grasp result from a scientific method. In this way intelligent readers should obtain from a book with such a topic as this one, some idea of the evolution of educational systems; of the genetic theory of thought itself; and some sense of historical perspective — which will teach a proper modesty in estimating the progress of our own times. To realise how much of the present consists of the past, and how much more of truth and strength than of error and weakness there was in the great men of old, will reveal to us unexpected treasures of knowledge and inspiration.

So far as the present writer has, by selection, given a particular tone and colouring to his view of his hero, he has deliberately chosen to make it as appreciative as possible. He has sought to include everything concerning the man which, he believes, has done, and will do, good to the world at large ; and rigorously to exclude all that is foreign to this purpose. He holds the view that all that is good should live after a man, and all that is not so should be decently buried with his bones

VI PREFACE.

— except in so far as the pathologist of men and manners can make a proper and profitable use of it. In particular it is the educational good which it is desired to propound and perpetuate. Pestalozzi was, educationally, one of the world's greatest benefactors.

My special thanks are due to Miss Mayo, of Riverdale, Dorking, for her generous and valuable help in allowing me to make use of Dr. Mayo's literary remains ; and for having copies made of the original pictures of which reproductions are given in this book. I am also indebted to Rev. Canon C. H. Mayo, of Long Burton Vicarage, Sherborne, for information gleaned from his Genealogical Account of the Mayo and Elton Families.

H. HOLMAN.

Contents

CHAPTER

PAGE

Preface iii

Chapter I. The Spirit Of The Times

Given a certain native genius of mind and character, it is true of most of the world's great men that they are as much the product of their own and previous times as they are the reformers of their own age, and the formers of some of the elements of all subsequent ages. It is, therefore, necessary to know something of the spirit of the times in which a man lived if we are to know, fully and truly, what he was and what he did. It has been well said that a proverb is the wisdom of all ages wittily expressed — world wisdom crystallised by individual wit. In much the same way it is true to say that the wisdom and work of the world's heroes represent the wisdom and work of all men articulated and universalised by a great master-man. Not every one, however, can make proverbs, nor can every one discover and reveal foundation principles. It needs at least a flash of genius for the one and a man of genius for the other. We can get only as we give ; and he who sees the world's secrets is he- who has the large vision and the great soul. All are called but few are chosen : all come under the influences, but only the finely tempered mind and man is in " sympathetic vibration " with them. From him rings out the new note of revelation ; and happy is the world if it hearkens thereto.

I

The master-mind is not the only star in a particular intellectual firmament, but it is at least one of the suns therein. The real founder of theories and institutions is not necessarily the first or the only one who has thought and acted in such matters, but he who gathers up and puts into clear and potent form great truths : he who universalises what has hitherto been individual and special : he who gives to all what would otherwise have been only for the few : he who completes, in the large sense, what others only began. The great man can no more exist without the help of smaller men, than smaller men can become greater without the help of the great man. How much each owes to the other it is useless to discuss and impossible to determine : we might as well ask whether the product ah is the more indebted to the factor a or h. It is sufficient to remember that neither can do without the other, nor can either do the work of the other.

In trying to set forth the relations of Pestalozzi and his work to the spirit of the age in which he lived, we shall take it as true that every great popular movement in favour of educational progress has been chiefly based on political and social grounds. It has ever been the general aim to consider how to make a man a good citizen rather than a good man ; though, of course, the latter effect could never be wholly ignored, and has always been most clearly recognised by the clearest thinkers and the best intentioned workers. Nevertheless, one is inclined to say that, as a rule, educational progress has been the result of the slow growth of a conviction that it pays better to have men rather than beasts of burden as citizens. The movement towards the social and intdlectual emancipation of *' the lower

EDUCATION IS PRIMARILY A SOCIAL MOVEMENT. 3

orders " has always received its most powerful stimulus 'from the efforts of the great thinkers and philanthropists of their times, and from the consequences of the intolerable sufferings and oppressions heaped upon the victims of ignorance and greed, i.e.^ " the lower orders " — which they in fact were, thanks to the treatment they received.

It is a happy dispensation that in the nature of things the struggles — in their own interests only, in the first instance — for progress of those at the top of the social scale inevitably bring, in the long run, great good to those at the bottom. The growth of political power (in modern times), and with it the increase of educational and social advantages, has been downwards from kings to the aristocracy ; the aristocracy to the middle classes ; middle classes to the democracy. During the life of Pestalozzi one of the greatest political and social revolutions in European history reached its climax. Professor H. Morse Stephens writing on the period 1789-1815 entitles his book Revolutionary Europe. This revolution was really the outcome of an intellectual revolution.

With the revival of learning (1453) — the Renaissance — there had come what may be called the democracy of ideas. Learning was no longer the monopoly of a class, but was open to all who had sufficient ability, leisure and means. And there was such a high and noble enthusiasm for " knowledge for its own sake " that we find the more generous souls desired that all, even the poorest, should partake of it. Erasmus (1467-1536) wished that the Scriptures should ^be translated into every language and given to all : " I wish that the weakest woman might read the Gospels and the Epistles of St. Paul. ... I long for the day when the husbandman shall sing portions of them to himself as he follows the plough, when the weaver shall hum them to the tune of his shuttle, when the traveller shall while away with their stories the weariness of his journey."

The printing press (1438) — the very deus ex machina of intellectual democracy — soon did for knowledge what steam has done for trade : reduced time and distance to their lowest terms in the intellectual commerce of the people. Men no longer had to make long and weary pilgrimages to the homes of learning: knowledge was brought to their very doors. Often with less trouble than was taken, formerly, to teach one pupil by the voice, a teacher now taught thousands by the pen. Little wonder therefore that old things began to pass away and all things to become new. In the cultivation of ideas men discovered themselves, so to say, and were no longer content to be the shadows and echoes of the few in high places. They sought first to deliver themselves from bondage and then to enter into possession of their own. This movement, which in the religious world led to the Reformation, in the political and social world led to the advent of democratic forms of government, and the spread of education.

Hobbes (1588-1679), the great English philosopher, may be said to have started the political revolution from the intellectual standpoint. He had endeavoured to find the rational bases of social and political institutions in Leviathan; and, in so doing, had founded a school of thought which was to change the whole order of things political in Europe. The central idea of his political theory was that the State is based upon a

THE PHILOSOPHERS AS REVOLUTIONISTS. 5

voluntary covenant between those composing it, in which they give up more or less of their individual rights and powers in order to gain the advantages of collective protection and progress. They, therefore, establish a supreme authority ; but still keep the power to resume their natural rights, if this authority fails to secure for them what they have a right to expect. Although Hobbes himself entirely believed in, and upheld, the monarchical form of this supreme authority, other great thinkers, such as Hooker, Locke and Sydney, modified and expanded the principle — which was known as that of Social Contract. Locke (1632-1704) in his Treatise 07t Civil Government developed from this principle the theory of constitutional government, based on such grounds as : all men are originally free and equal ; all should assist and help each other ; all the goods of the earth are common to all, in the first instance ; only personal labour can give any right of "private property," and only in so far as there is *' enough and as good left in common for others ".

The principles of liberty of thought, personal freedom and individual responsibility were becoming the commonplaces of philosophy — and even philosophy had become democratised ; for just as the great religious reformers insisted that the Bible should be translated into the speech of the people, so philosophers had begun to write in a style which appealed to the average man. Such great thinkers and writers as Voltaire, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Spinoza, Liebnitz, Kant, Hume and others, all contributed, by their writings, to the intellectual revolution in Europe.

All this led to the ever-increasing belief that it was through human reason that the Divine Will and its laws were expressed ; and, therefore, that man himself was the originator and founder of laws and institutions, and was their master, not their slave. Whilst, during the greater part of the eighteenth century, it was held that government existed for the security and prosperity of the governed, yet it was also held that it could not be, and ought not to be, administered by the people. But this latter notion was being denied ; and the French Revolution was the articulate declaration of the belief in the sovereignty of the people, i.e., government of the people, for the people, and by the people. It must be remembered that, throughout the century, the majority of the peasants of Europe were, in effect, absolute serfs. They were compelled to give so much time to working for their lords that they had to cultivate their own land by moonlight. They were not allowed to leave their villages, or marry, without their lord's consent ; neither could any of them learn a trade without permission. They, therefore, were as the driest of dry tinder to the sparks of the intellectual revolution which fell upon them.

Speaking of the political theories which were then " in the air," Mr. Lecky writes : " The true causes of their mighty influence are to be found in the conditioti of society. Formerly they had been advocated with a view to special political exigencies, or to a single country, or to a single section of society. For the first time, in the eighteenth century, they penetrated to the masses of the people, stirred them to their lowest depths, and produced an upheaving that was scarcely less general than that of the Reformation " {Rationalism in Europe), Thus, though monarchs had never done so much, as during this period, in the way of important civil re-

THE SWISS REVOLUTION. 7

forms, or been more earnest and zealous in promoting the well-being of the lower classes ; yet the'people were determined to abide by their own mistakes in self-government, rather than endure their present disabilities and the dangers and risks of personal government — however benevolent.

Such was what may be called the social and political atmosphere in Europe, in general ; whilst in Switzerland, in particular, it was at one of its points of greatest intensity. Though there were far more freemen than bondmen amongst the peasants, yet they were obliged to fight for their rights against two great anti-popular influences in government, viz.^ '' Patriciates," and Guild government *' by divine right ". During the latter part of the sixteenth century, and onwards, in certain towns and states '' it tacitly became the rule that appointments to positions in the councils should be held for life, or even hereditary ; in Lucerne, for instance, the son succeeded the father, and the brother the brother. But when the end could not be attained lawfully, unlawful means, such as bribery, were brought to bear. Thus the burghers separated themselves into a distinct class, with the sole and hereditary right of governing the whole state. The road to government appointment was totally barred to all who were not by birth freemen of the city. ... A purely aristocratic system was gradually formed, or as it was called (after a like system of Rome) a ' Patriciate '. In Fribourg, for instance, it was determined in 1627 to exclude all families who were not at that time within the pale of the council from holding any public offices ; a ' secret chamber ' of twenty-four members elected the great and small councils and all government officials, and completed itself; thus the poHtical rights were limited to only seventy-one families. . . .

** From the end of the fifteenth century it became the rule in Zurich and Bern to consult the peasantry and advise w^ith them upon all important acts of government, such as the declaration of war, the conclusion of peace, alliances, taxes, etc. During the course of the sixteenth century, however, the idea gradually obtained that the authorities wielded the sword of protection and punishment in God's name, and that the divine law required obedience from subjects in all cases ... so [they] tried to destroy the influence of the people, more especially after an exclusive ruling faction had arisen within the cities themselves " (Dr. Karl Dandliker, A Short History of Switzerland). The result of this was that there were constant revolts of the peasants. Such risings, being of small bodies in different localities, were easily put down and the ringleaders severely punished. In 1653 the peasants made common cause with one another and rose in rebellion. This was known as the Peasants' War, and it ended in their complete overthrow.

During the seventeenth century considerable material progress took place. " Outwardly considered, the aristocracy developed an appearance of no inconsiderable prosperity, especially in administration. The general conditions and necessities of the time led to many useful institutions. ... In Bern, Zurich, Zug, Basel, and even in Soleure, Lucerne, Stanz, etc., public almshouses, hospitals, orphan asylums, improved houses of correction, etc., were established. The governments of Zurich, Bern, Basel and Zug made more extensive provision than formerly for scholastic institutions, scientific col-

THE SWISS REVOLUTION. Q

lections and libraries, for commerce and industry. . . . The authorities of the various states vied with one another in their efforts to further the material welfare of their subjects, in 'fatherly' fashion; to support them in times of misfortune, of bad harvests, of famine, etc., and to check beggary, pauperism and such-like by numerous mandates. Viewed externally, many parts of Switzerland presented a more cheering appearance than the numerous provinces of other lands, mostly depopulated and devastated by war. . . .

" Once more for every ray of light there was a shadow ; narrow-mindedness and bigotry reigned supreme, in a way which it is now hardly possible to conceive. . . . Higher schools were, indeed, provided, but on the other hand hardly anything was done towards educating the people. The teachers in the popular schools were ignorant artisans, discharged soldiers, or uneducated youths ; the education consisted merely in learning mechanically by rote, and without understanding, religious matter out of the catechism and various devotional books. By this means ignorance was systematically cultivated, and the mind of the people was stifled rather than awakened. Intellectual life was entirely under the control of the authorities, secular and religious ; it was feared that a liberal education might open the eyes of the people. Writings which displeased the authorities, even innocent poems and popular songs, were unhesitatingly suppressed ; everything had to undergo the censorship of severe masters " (Dr. K. Dandliker).

With the increased opportunities for the education of the middle classes came that progress in ideas which invariably precedes all great popular movements. Albrecht von Haller roused patriotic discontent with existing conditions, and a longing for better things, with his poems The Alps, The Man of the World, and Demoralisation. Young J. C. Lavater, of Zurich, composed his Swiss Songs, in which he calls for unity in the cause of national well-being. The songs soon became the " songs of the people," being sung by men and women, old and young, throughout the country. Salomon Gessner, of Zurich, wrote Idylls, which were very popular ; and in which he sang the joys of country life. Franz Urs Balthasar, of Lucerne, published (1758) a work called The Patriotic Dreams of a Confederate of a way to make young again the old Confederation, in which he urges the founding of a national Swiss institute, in which the children of the aristocrats should be educated in such a way that they would become good citizens and capable politicians. Amongst other subjects, history, politics and military science were to be taught. Professor Bodmer, of Zurich, aroused an interest in literature, amongst scholars and readers, by his publications and controversies with German writers. Societies for artists, musicians, naturalists, farmers, etc. ; benefit societies ; reading clubs, etc., were formed. Printing presses became common and many books, magazines, newspapers and pamphlets were published. Johann von Miiller, of Schaffhausen, pubHshed (1780) the first popular history of the Swiss. The country was a meeting place for many of the great men of the day. Voltaire, Ferney and Gibbon spent much time together at Lausanne ; whilst Klopstock, Wieland, Kleist, Goethe, Fichte and other great German writers often stayed at Zurich. No wonder that to people suffering so much political and social oppression and repression, and yet just beginning to enter into in-

ROUSSEAU'S INFLUENCE. 11

tellectual liberty and life, the political pamphlets and books (from France and England) which preached the sovereignty of the people, and the liberty of man, met with a hearty welcome. Above all, that famous and epoch-making work by Rousseau, Contrat Social (published 1744), had a profound effect upon the reformers. With all its glowing eloquence ; its human sympathy ; its clear-cut and apparently conclusive arguments ; its dogmatic definiteness ; and, first and foremost, its fitness as argument — however specious and superficial even as special pleading — for their purpose ; this book came as an inspired revelation to the minds of its readers.

As Mr. John Morley says, in his work on Rousseau, in spite of its " shallowness [and] practical mischievousness ... it was the match which kindled revolutionary fire in generous breasts throughout Europe. . . . His theory made the native land what it had been to the citizens of earlier date, a true centre of existence, round which all the interests of the community, all its pursuits, all its hopes, grouped themselves with entire singleness of convergence, just as a religious faith is the centre of existence to a church." Further, it added to this "the cardinal service of rekindling the fire of patriotism, the rapid deduction from the doctrine of the sovereignty of peoples of the great truth, that a nation with a civilised polity does not consist of an order or a caste, but of the great body of its members, the army of toilers who make the most painful of the sacrifices that are needed for the continuous nutrition of the social organisation. As Condorcet put it, and he drew inspiration partly from the intellectual school of Voltaire, and partly from the social school of Rousseau, all institutions ought to have for their aim the physical, intellectual and moral amelioration of the poorest and most numerous class. This is the People."

Commencing with a sentence, '* Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains " — which must have thrilled the heart of every reformer — Rousseau professes to prove to demonstration (in the Contrat Social) the following principles : — (i) A society, community, or state is the outcome of a social compact by which men, freely and voluntarily, bind themselves to obey " the general will " : " Each of us puts his person and all his powers under the sovereign direction of the general will ; and we receive every member as an inseparable part of the whole ". This is for the purpose of defending and protecting the person and property of each. (2) The body thus formed is the sovereign power — the sovereign and the body politic are one and the same thing. Every member is a citizen in that he is a part of the sovereign power, and a subject in that he owes obedience to the laws made by, or through, the sovereign power. (3) The sovereign power is inalienable and indivisible, i.e., the sovereign power itself is not subject to the laws it makes ; and the sovereign power cannot exercise its legislative functions through one body and its executive powers through another. (4) The general will of the sovereign power in regard to a matter of common interest is expressed in a law. Laws, therefore, cannot be made through any kind of representative institution, since only the sovereign power (the whole community) can possess the law-making power (the general will). (5) All governmental machinery constitutes the agents and go-betweens of the sovereign power as a whole and its members as the parts ; to the

THE "CONTRAT SOCIAL". 1 3

end that civil and political freedom for each and all may be properly maintained. The government may be a monarchy, i.e., when there is one magistrate from whom all the rest hold their authority ; an aristocracy, i.e., when there are more simple citizens than magistrates ; or a democracy, i.e., when there are more citizen magistrates than private citizens. (6) The sovereign power should establish a purely civil profession of religious faith, consisting of a belief in God : a future state: happiness of the righteous and punishment of the wicked : the sanctity of the social contract and the laws.

Such is a brief and bald outline of the theory of the Contrat Social, the book which was one of the more immediate causes of the French Revolution, and which had such a powerful influence upon its Swiss readers that, in 1762, the government of Geneva caused a copy of it to be publicly burnt. Pestalozzi has put on record that he was himself greatly influenced by the reading of the book ; and his own political wTitings plainly show this. He, like other good patriots, did everything possible to bring about a better state of things.

The new spirit of national, as against state, patriotism which was fast spreading found active expression in and through the founding, in 1762, of the Helvetic Society. This was largely due to the influence of Balthasar's book ; and the society consisted of such zealous patriots as Gessner, Hirzel and Iselin. Pestalozzi appears to have been one of the earliest, if not one of the original members. Both Catholics and Protestants worked together in this society. Soon all the most famous men of both French and German Switzerland attended its annual meetings; at which patriotism and nationalism were fostered : corruption and extortion in public life criticised and exposed : the moral improvement of individual life urged : and the reform of education and civic government advocated. The society offered prizes for plans for the improvement of the educational system of the country. It gave active encouragement to Dr. Planta, who had started in 1761 a school, at Haldenstein, on the lines of the Philanthropinists — who sought to carry out Rousseau's principle of things instead of words in teaching — through the sciences which helped most frequently in the affairs of daily life. Dr. Planta also sought to train his pupils in human fraternity, patriotism and religious toleration. Many distinguished men, who took foremost parts in the national reforms, were educated in this school.

Meantime political struggles and revolts continued. In one or two towns and cantons the artisans and peasants succeeded in regaining some of their old rights and privileges ; but in most cases all political agitations and revolts were put down with an iron hand, and many paid for their discontent with their lives. But the people caught the fever of the French Revolution, and, in 1798, the inhabitants of Pays de Vaud rose in rebellion against the authority of the canton of Bern. This rising led to others, and the peasants set to work to overthrow the conditions of feudalism, and declared themselves in favour of ''liberty, equality and fraternity ". Their leaders appealed to France for aid. This was given, with the result that, in 1798, thirteen states were federated, and put under a representative democracy. The government consisted of two chambers : a senate and a greater council ; the executive was a directory of ftve members and four ministers; and

"THE HELVETIC SOCIETY." 1 5

the judiciary was a high court. Lucerne was made the capital.

One of the clauses of the new Helvetic Constitution declared that education was the chief foundation of the public welfare, and in itself of more value than mere wealth. M. Albrecht Stapfer (of Brugg) — a man of enlightened views — was appointed Minister of Arts and Sciences, and at once drew up an admirable scheme for educational reform ; he himself holding that "spiritual and intellectual freedom alone makes free". All the cantons were to send him reports on their schools and education, with suggestions for improvement. Federal regulations were drawn up to secure a council of education (seven members) in the chief town of each canton ; a commissioner or inspector of schools ; and a training college for teachers in each canton. He also provided for the building of grammar-schools; proposed the founding of a Swiss university ; arranged for the estabHshment of a Swiss Society of Arts ; did all he could to encourage the formation of literary societies ; and endeavoured to preserve, and make public, monastic libraries and collections. He was always the friend of Pestalozzi and did much to help him.