The Jean-Frédéric Oberlin Museum in Waldersbach allows us to come back to one of the figureheads of Alsace in the 18th century, he was a pastor, pedagogue, botanist and defender of human rights; no, no, he even tried to build a new society.
To improve the living conditions of the inhabitants of Ban de la Roche, he implemented a real program of economic and social development: better use of the country’s natural resources, improvement of communication channels, creation of a mutual aid fund and loans, development of crafts and the textile industry, introduction of new cultures…
And in 1769, he began a revolution in the education sector: he created the first “knitting stoves” which he entrusted to “Conductresses de la Tendre Enfance”. These are not only places where knowledge is made known but also and above all places “to make people understand”.
It is a question of developing intelligences and not enslaving them. In these “small schools” a pedagogy of awakening is applied, where for the first time the principles of respecting the rhythm of the child are put forward, the body is solicited by physical exercises, all learning generates a production and the need to play contributes to these same learning processes. Are these schools of the past so outdated?
Maybe not. Find out for yourselves until January 30 with the exhibition “Knitting pans 250 years – Dreaming of education” at the Oberlin Museum in Waldersbach, a museum open every day from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. All the information on: musee-oberlin.org/
The website of the Oberlin Museum in Waldersbach.