Wolfgang Ratke
Categories: 1911 Britannica | German people stubs | 1571 births | 1635 deaths | German educators
Wolfgang Ratke (also Ratchius or Wolfgang Ratich) (18 October 1571–27 April 1635) was a German educationist.
He was born at Wilster, Holstein, and educated at the university of Rostock. His system of education was based upon Francis Bacon's philosophy, the principle being that of proceeding from things to names, from the particular to the general, and from the mother tongue to foreign languages. In 1618 he opened schools at Augsburg and elsewhere, but at Köthen difficulties with the clergy led to his imprisonment for eight months, and after starting another school at Magdeburg in 1620 which failed, he became a wanderer and died at Erfurt in 1635. His ideas were far in advance of his time, but he lacked executive ability.
This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain.