Comenius, << kuh MEE nee uhs, >> John Amos (1592-1670), was a Czech educational reformer and religious leader. He criticized the educational conditions of his time and called for a reorganization of schooling.
Comenius described his educational system in a book called Didactica Magna (The Great Didactic), which he finished about 1635. He proposed that education be organized in graded stages, from easy to difficult. He also called for teachers to use kindness instead of harsh discipline and to teach certain classes in their students’ native language rather than Latin.
Comenius, whose Czech name was Jan Amos Komensky, was born on March 28, 1592, in Uhersky Brod, near Gottwaldov, in what is now the Czech Republic. According to the custom of his time, he wrote in Latin and used a Latin name. About 1616, he was ordained a pastor in a Protestant group called the Brethren, now the Moravian Church. Comenius became a bishop in 1648. He died on Nov. 15, 1670.
