NECKER DE LA SAUSSURE, ALBERTINE. - Pedagogue, b. Geneva in 1776, d. at Mornay on 13 Apr. 1841. Precocious in intellect and spiritually educated by her father, she learned several languages and, from numerous journeys and relations with celebrated persons of her time, drew treasures of experience, especially in pedagogy. Intimate with Mme de Staël, of whom she was a cousin, she wrote, soon after her death, a careful Notice sur le caractère et les écrits de M.me de Staël (Paris 1818); but the work that won her a name is that which she composed in solitude (widow of S. Necker, alone and almost deaf): L'éducation progressive, ou Etude des cours de la vie (3 vols., I, Paris 1828; II, Lausanne 1832; III, Brussels 1838).
In this work, N. pours her personal experiences and her original research, because she wished first to practice what she strongly advises all mothers to do: to observe and follow their own children and to record in a diary all progress in physical life, but above all in moral life. The fundamental concept of N. is this: teaching must go hand in hand with education; both must progress, step by step, according to the child’s development, taking him by the hand and guiding him along an uninterrupted path to ever new and greater achievements. Nature has no limits in time; in time only the hand that leads changes: at first education is directed by more experienced persons; then, in childhood, it also arises from the active cooperation of the one being educated; finally it becomes ever more free initiative and self-perfection. Moreover, it is necessary, contrary to Rousseau, who would educate one faculty after another, as if these were implanted in the one being educated successively by decisive and theatrical blows, to take all faculties together, the whole child, following the natural and simultaneous development of the faculties. To educate a child means to build him internally and to make him into a man.
Following this fundamental idea, N. sets forth her observations on physical, intellectual, moral, and religious education; emphasizing greatly the will, which is the center of attraction and directive power, and religion, which
NECKER DE LA SAUSSURE ALBERTINE – NEGLIGENCE 1728
gives to the will energy and constancy. As one sees, N. does not want an education that is merely “informative”; she demands one that is “formative.” As for the particular education of women, she wishes that the girl, rather than enriching herself with superficial knowledge, should seriously prepare for her vocation as wife and mother, as the first and irreplaceable educator of her children, as the ever-beloved guide of her sons, even when grown.
The work is pervaded by a deeply Christian spirit; nor, although the authoress was Calvinist, does she often transcend into showing a sectarian spirit; but, naturally, in this religious aspect, it is somewhat lacking, not exploiting what strength and energy are contained in the Catholic religion with its Sacraments, devotion to the Virgin, and the patronage and assistance of the Saints. The thought and work of N. were always highly esteemed by pedagogues; among our own, by G. Capponi, R. Lambruschini, A. Rosmini, who incorporated many of her results of psychological inquiry into his Principio supremo della metodica.