BYU

Harold B. Lee Library

German Pädagogik and the Founding of the Brigham Young Academy

Dr. LeGrand (Buddy) Richards, BYU School of Education

  • Time: 3:00 PM
  • Date: Thursday, June 05, 2008
  • Place: DeLamar Jensen Lecture Room, 1130 HBLL, BYU


About the Event

BYU professor Buddy Richards has for some years studied the published works of 18/19th century European educational theorists, such as Johann H. Pestalozzi, Friedrich A.W. Diesterweg, Friedrich Froebel, and Johann Basedow. He has also studied their influence on early BYU curriculum. As Richards will describe, Karl G. Maeser referred to all of these theorist in his Normal Course (a course that taught teachers how to teach). Maeser was prepared to be a teacher during a very narrow window of a renaissance in German educational ideas.

In the Lee Library’s recent exhibition Designing BYU (closing June 15) an idea was put forward that the floor plan for the 1892 Academy Building (Univ. Ave., Provo) was in part based on mid 19th century German school design, inspired by the same educational theorists. Richards’ Omnibus presentation will examine how Europe’s revolutionary ideas converged with LDS doctrine at the young Academy.

Dr. Richards is the Chair of the Department of Educational Leadership & Foundations. He taught for two years at the University of Würzburg, and has returned frequently as a visiting professor. His background is in educational philosophy and his interest in Karl G. Maeser came to him while studying the history of grading in the United States.