The New International Encyclopædia/Sturm, Johannes

STURM, or STUR'MIUS, Johannes (1507-89). A prominent educator of the sixteenth century. He was born near Cologne, and was educated at Leyden and Louvain. In 1537, at the instance of the magistrates of Strassburg, he organized the Strassburg Gymnasium, which he directed for forty-three years. He was relieved from his position in 1581 on account of religious disputes and differences. Through his system of gradation of classes, practically the same that still prevails in all German gymnasia, the classification of literary material for use in schools, the writing of text-books, and the organization of school management, he shaped the practice of secondary education not only in the German schools, but also in the great secondary schools of England and France.