Philanthropinum

The Philanthropinum (from Greek: φίλος = friend, and άνθρωπος = human) was a reformist, progressive school in Dessau, Germany from 1774 to 1793.

The Philanthropinum, or "School of Philanthropy," was founded on 27 December 1774 by the German educational reformers Johann Bernhard Basedow (1724–1790) and Christian Heinrich Wolke (1741–1825).

His successor was Joachim Heinrich Campe (1746–1818), but he quit in 1777 due to conflict with the younger teachers, and went on to found a similar school in Hamburg.

Immanuel Kant was a great supporter of the school, calling for a "quick revolution" in education rather than "slow reform".

Though education for all was the ideal, notions of class still prevailed, and children from richer families spent more time on academic subjects, while those from less-wealthy backgrounds did more manual work.