Johannes Ramsauer (teacher)

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Johannes Ramsauer (born May 28, 1790 in Herisau in Switzerland ; † April 15, 1848 in Oldenburg ) was a Swiss student of Pestalozzi and later himself a teacher and prince educator in the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg .

Life

Early years and work for Pestalozzi

Ramsauer came from a Swiss merchant family and was the son of a factory owner and work equipment dealer in Herisau in the Swiss canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden . After his father's death, he was raised as the sixth child by his mother, who also had to continue running the business. In this respect, she was forced to take her children with her when doing business at an early age, and so Ramsauer moved to the surrounding markets with his siblings at the age of six. Ramsauer did not start school until he was eight.

In the turmoil of the Helvetic Revolution ( French troops marched in 1798) and the following social problems, Ramsauer, like numerous other children, was to be sent from the east to the north-west of Switzerland, as living conditions there were more stable. In February 1800 Ramsauer therefore moved, probably more at his own request than because of social grievances, with a large group of children via Zurich to Schleumen , where a woman von Werth took him in, who sent him to the Hintersassenschule in Burgdorf in the canton of Bern . At this time Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi was teaching at this school. When he set up his own institute in Burgdorf Castle that same year and Ms. von Werth moved to the city of Bern at the same time , Ramsauer moved to Pestalozzi in Burgdorf. He stayed there for sixteen years, initially as a pupil and “table-maker”. H. Responsible for various everyday tasks in the boarding school , later as a sub-teacher who carried out language exercises and exercises in drawing and arithmetic with students. After only a year, Pestalozzi entrusted him with lessons in the city school, which he had given up himself and for which he had to provide a substitute. Ramsauer, although only eleven years old himself, taught reading , writing , blackboard drawing, counting and arithmetic to thirty boys and girls . Eight months later he took over the lowest class in Pestalozzi's Burgdorf Institute. When the canton of Bern claimed the Burgdorf Palace as an administrative building in 1804, Pestalozzi moved with teachers and students to Münchenbuchsee , where they found accommodation on the estate of Philipp Emanuel von Fellenberg in Hofwil , where he in turn maintained an educational institute. The stay there was also short. Pestalozzi founded a new institute in Yverdon-les-Bains and caught up with Ramsauer in February 1805. When he was sixteen, Ramsauer became a paid sub-teacher, and when he was twenty, he became a senior teacher. From 1812 to 1814 he was also Pestalozzi's private secretary . In order to be able to cope with these diverse tasks, Ramsauer trained himself during this time in drawing, in shape, body, size and arithmetic and in gymnastics . He also learned bookbinding , woodturning and other practical, manual work.

Activity in southern Germany

After quarrels and arguments between Pestalozzi and the teaching staff at his institute, Ramsauer left Yverdon in the spring of 1816. He first went to Würzburg, where Friedrich Christian Georg Kapp had founded an institute based on Pestalozzi's teaching methods. Ramsauer took up a job there as a teacher. At the same time, he gave private lessons in two aristocratic houses in the city and still found time to take part in the philosophy lectures of Johann Jakob Wagner at the University of Würzburg .

Ramsauer left Würzburg as early as 1817 and took on the role of prince educator in Stuttgart for the two sons of Queen Katharina von Württemberg from their first marriage to Prince Georg von Oldenburg . Ramsauer was able to get the prince to teach in small groups with other children. In addition, he became head of and teacher of a newly established teaching and educational institution with three boys 'and three girls' classes in Stuttgart. When the Queen founded her own school in 1818 and called Ramsauer to this institute called Katharinenstift , he closed his school. In addition to his work as a teacher and educator for the princes and at the Katharinenstift , Ramsauer also taught at the local secondary school.

Change to Oldenburg

After the death of Queen Katharina in 1819 and the remarriage of the King of Württemberg, the princes were summoned to his court in Oldenburg in 1820 at the request of their grandfather, Grand Duke Peter I. Ramsauer joined them in October 1820 and remained in his position until Prince Alexander's death in 1829. From 1826 he also taught the children of Peter I's successor, Grand Duke August I , namely the princesses Amalie , who later became Queen of Greece, Friederike and the Hereditary Grand Duke Nikolaus Friedrich Peter . Ramsauer also ran a private school for girls in Oldenburg, which opened in 1821. In 1839 he gave it up because he was appointed to the college of a private girls' school that his former pupil, Prince Peter, had founded in 1836 with the help of a fund he had set up himself. The school was under the patronage of Grand Duchess Cäcilie . In 1867, today's Cäcilienschule emerged from this institute as the first public girls' school in the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg . He worked at this school until the end of his life.

Ramsauer was spiritually close to pietism and the revival movement , to whose representatives in Bremen he also maintained personal contacts.

family

Ramsauer married Wilhelmine born in October 1817. Schultheß (1795-1874). His wife also worked at Pestalozzi's Daughter Institute in Yverdon from 1812 to 1814. She was the third daughter of the Zurich deacon Johann Georg Schulthess (1758–1802) and was also largely related to Pestalozzi's wife. The marriage had fourteen children (seven boys and seven girls). Johanna (1823–1911) was brought to Russia by Prince Peter to bring up his daughters, Elise (1821–1882) married the missionary Bultmann in Sierra Leone . Three of the sons, Carl (1818-1883), Otto (1828-1856) and Johannes (1832-1918) became pastors (Johannes later senior church councilor), Gottfried (1827-1904) became a senior school officer and Peter was a lawyer. Family life was strongly Christian-Pietist.

Works

Ramsauer wrote a few educational writings, but his main focus was more on the practical implementation of Pestalozzi's ideas. Among other things, his publications show that he wanted to concretize the principles of clarity , naturalness and independence that he had adopted from Pestalozzi in the area of ​​his drawing theory and for teaching geometry and, like other Pestalozzi students, proceeded more systematically, consistently and precisely than Pestalozzi himself. His book of mothers , published on the occasion of Pestalozzi's 100th birthday and given a book title Pestalozzis, is an instruction for the meaningful preparation of 3-6 year old children for school and for reflections on educational work with preschoolers still worth reading today.

  • Drawing theory, measure and body theory or the elements of geometry, processed methodically. Stuttgart 1826.
  • A short sketch of my educational life with special regard to Pestalozzi and his institutions. Oldenburg 1838. 2nd edition: 1880.
  • Book of Mothers. Love in education and teaching, a little book for parents and teachers, especially for mothers from the educated classes. Elberfeld 1846.
  • Memorabilia. Published in: Pestalozzian Leaves. Edited by Friedrich Ludwig Zahn and Johannes Ramsauer. 1st issue. Elberfeld 1846.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Ramsauer, Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss Pestalozzi students, prince educators and teachers
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1790
PLACE OF BIRTH Herisau in Switzerland
DATE OF DEATH April 15, 1848
Place of death Oldenburg