“What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.” – 2 Timothy 1:13

Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi was born in Zürich, Switzerland in 1746. He was a visionary educationalist, who devoted his life’s work to giving poor and underprivileged children the chance to have a decent education and so to realize life opportunities otherwise denied them.

Pestalozzi took in up to 150 boys aged 7 to 15 who would otherwise have been begging on the streets, fed and clothed them, and organized a flexible school curriculum suited to each child’s abilities, covering mathematics, languages, music, gymnastics, biology, astronomy and more, thus gaining worldwide attention from social scientists of the day.

Two years later, he set up a similar school for girls, followed in 1813 by first schools for children with hearing and/or speech disabilities.

Many of his principles which inspire children to learn have been adapted in western schools.

Upon his death, the citizens of Switzerland wanted to honor Pestalozzi with a monument. When the statue was unveiled at his burial site in Birr, it accurately reproduced the likeness of the teacher. Pestalozzi was shown looking down upon the kneeling form of a little child whose uplifted gaze focused upward, away from Pestalozzi, to the challenging heights of goals yet to be attained and to God.

The object of our teaching is not ourselves, but to point students to look to the Lord with faith and love. Today in prayer, thank the Lord for the inspiration of your teachers and seek to point others in sound teaching which leads to greater knowledge and love of Christ.

“A teacher must be one who knows the lesson or truth or art to be taught.” – John Milton Gregory

God’s Word: “He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.” – Titus 1:9

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2006, Devotional E-Mail DEVOTIONS IN 1 AND 2 TIMOTHY pkennedy6@yahoo.com