Johann Bernhard Basedow

Born Sept. 11, 1724, in Hamburg; died July 25, 1790, in Magdeburg. German educator; founder of “philanthropinism.”

Expressing the interests of the young German bourgeoisie, Basedow criticized the schools of his time for scholasticism and isolation from life and insisted on the teaching of the natural sciences and modern languages. He advocated religious tolerance and tried to prevent church interference in the affairs of his Philanthropinum (an educational institution similar to a boarding school), which he had opened in Dessau (1774). Although Basedow’s Philanthropinum accepted children of various social classes, it preserved the features of a socially stratified institution. The students were divided into boarders (noblemen’s children who were prepared for admission to a university) and “famuliants” (poor people’s children, future tutors).