BASEDOW, blifze-da, or BASSEDAU, JOHANN BERNHARD, often called BERNHARD VON NORDALIIINGEN (1723-90). A German educa tional reformer of the Eighteenth Century. He was born at Hamburg. and studied philosophy and theology at the University of Leipzig. He became professor of moral philosophy in the Academy of Sorb in Denmark. in 1753; was trans ferred to the gymnasium at Altona in 1761. but was soon again compelled to give up teaching, though he retained his salary. At both Smi; and Altona, Basedow had fallen into difficulties on ac count of his extremely unorthodox religions views, expressed in both his teaching and his writings. While at Altona he came under the influence of Rousseau's Emile, and in 1767 definitely aban doned theology for educational affairs. Ilis im portant position in education was due to his at tempt to interpret and put into practical appli cation the revolutionary ideas of Rousseau, by proposing a general reform in education in Ger many in respect to organization, methods of in struction, and training of teachers. In 1768 he issued An Address to the Friends of Humanity, and to Persons in Power, on Schools, on Educa tion, and Its Influence on Public Happiness, which included the plan for his Elcmentarwerk, a complete system of primary education. This was received with favor, and his appeal for funds with which to publish the proposed treatise met with generous response. The Elementarwerk was issued in 1774, and exerted a wide influence. The ideas underlying the work were a com bination of the methods of the Orbis Pietas of Comenius (q.v.) and the general principles advanced by Rousseau. It contained a vast amount of general information, accompanied by numerous illustrations, arranged in dialogue form, and designed to direct and train, but never suppress, the natural desires of children. Public approval of the ideas advanced was generous, and Basedow immediately outlined a plan for the training of teachers for the new education.
The resulting institution was the celebrated Philanthropinum, founded at Dessau. and imi tated in various parts of Germany. Basedow was unfit for the management of such an insti tution. and failed in carrying out his own ideas. The control of the Philanthropinum, under more competent hands. continued to exist until 1793. and exerted a wide influence. Basedo• passed the last year of his life in private tutoring, and died in 1790. The fundamental idea of the re form was 'education according to nature.' which was interpreted to mean that children should be treated as children, not as adults: that lan guage should he taught by conversational methods. not through grammatical studies; that physical exercise and games should find a place in the child's education; that early training shmild be connected with "motion and noise," since the child naturally loves these; that each child should be taught a handicraft, for rea sons partly educational, partly social; that the vernacular rather than the classical languages should constitute the chief snbject-matter of education; that instruction should be connected.
realities rather than with words. Many of these reforms, suggested by Basedow, were -carried out by more praetieal and less erratic reformers, such as Pestalozzi and Froebel. The great-grandson of Basedow was Prof. Max Mil ler, who contributed a "Life" of the reformer to the Allgemeine deutsche Biographic. A com parison of Basedow and Comenius by Petri Garbovicianu (Bucharest, 1887) is commended by Quick.
Consult: Quick, Educational Reformers (Cin cinnati, 1879) ; Barnard, German 'Teachers and Educators (New York, 1861) ; Pinloehe, L'Edu cation ea Allemagne au dix-Ituitieme siecle (Paris, 1889).