RATKE (RATCHIUS), WOLFGANG (1571-1635), German
educationist, was born at Wilster, Holstein, on the 18th of
October 1571, and educated at the university of Rostock. His system of education was based upon Bacon's philosophy, the principle being that of “proceeding from things to names,”
from the particular to the general, and from the mother tongue
to foreign languages. In 1618 he opened schools at Augsburg
and elsewhere, but at Köthen difficulties with the clergy led to
his imprisonment for eight months, and after starting another
school at Magdeburg in 1620 which failed, he became a wanderer
and died at Erfurt on the 27th of April 1635. His ideas were
far in advance of his time, but he lacked executive ability.