1770-1854 Educational Reformer

Background.

Francis Joseph Nicholas Neef was born in 1770 in Alsace, a French province on the border with Germany. Growing up he learned to speak both French and German and began to study for the priesthood, learning Latin, Greek, and Italian. The excitement of the French Revolution brought Neef out of the monastery and into the French army in 1791, and he was wounded in the Italian campaigns of 1796. Recovering from his wounds, Neef read the works of Swiss educational reformer Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. Like many others of the age, Pestalozzi was trying to find ways to achieve personal perfection. He also sought to regenerate the poor of Europe and build a new society founded on equality and liberty. Unlike others, Pestalozzi sought liberty and perfection through developing a system of education. Neef was inspired by Pestalozzi and sought to become a schoolteacher...