"The influence of Pestalozzi was enormous throughout Western civilization. His methods were adopted in Prussia, making their school system one of the best in the world during the nineteenth century. American educators studied these schools in order to evoke educational reform at home. Teacher training was improved in France. Only in England was his influence lost. Except for the aristocracy, English education lagged behind the rest of Europe."
see http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/agexed/aee501/pestalozzi.html

"Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (12 January 1746 – 17 February 1827) was a Swiss pedagogue and educational reformer who exemplified Romanticism in his approach. ... Pestalozzi's philosophy of education was based on a four-sphere concept of life and the premise that human nature was essentially good. The first three 'exterior' spheres - home and family, vocational and individual self-determination, and state and nation - recognized the family, the utility of individuality, and the applicability of the parent-child relationship to society as a whole in the development of a child's character, attitude toward learning, and sense of duty."
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Heinrich_Pestalozzi

"In Pestalozzi's opinion the chief goal of education should be to create the ‘moral man’. The moral individual attempts to do good and to love, his actions are rooted in religious faith and he puts aside his selfishness wherever possible. The moral individual is self-made."
see http://www.heinrich-pestalozzi.de/en/documentation/fundamental_ideas/education/