Alle origini del ginnasio umanistico prussiano

In the few months between 1809 and 1810 Wilhelm von Humboldt was at the head of the Department for public education in the Prussian Ministry of the Interior he laid the foundations for a radical reform of the Prussian education system, which was continued after his resignation and completed by his successors G.H.L. Nicolovius and J.W. Süvern. At the heart of Humboldt’s reform there are fundamental concepts such as the unity and the continuity of education from primary school to university, and the separation between general education (Allgemenine Menschenbildung), necessary for everyone, and specialized-professional education. This essay focuses on two documents which are the basis of Humboldt’s ideological and programmatic reform: The School Plan for Königsberg and The Lithuania school Plan. It provides also an historical framework and an Italian translation. In these two reports of Humboldt it is outlined the model of the German classical grammar school (humanistisches Gymnasium) based on the centrality of ancient Greek and Latin, whose teaching is designed in a formal sense and was aimed at understanding the general structure of the language.