Janusz Korczak

Janusz Korczak is famous for his courageous response to the Nazis. In 1939 Germany invaded Poland. At the time Korczak operated an orphanage in Warsaw. The Germans ordered him to move his orphanage to the ghetto where the Polish Jews were forced to live. As well as the orphanage, Korczak took over responsibility for a hospital for dying and sick children. Refusing to abandon the children and save his own life, his own health suffered. In August of 1942 the Nazis informed him that the children would be moved. Knowing they were going to their death, Korczak led them to the train station. He carried a flag of his own design with a star of David on one side. The children followed him each carrying a favorite book or toy. This was the final witness of a man who had dedicated his life to children.

Korczak had profound respect for children. He believed that they should be listened to and encouraged to ask questions and develop their intellect. He trusted their judgment and avoided exercising his power as an adult over them. He turned education upside down; he believed that if adults will listen they can learn from children.

Maria Montessori was born 8 years before Korczak. Like Montessori, Korczak was a doctor. Independently they came to the same conclusion from their work with children: Given the proper environment, children will develop at their own rate into self-confident adults prepared to participate in a caring society. One of Korczak’s important additional observations is that society does not need to wait for children to grow up. Adults can learn from children. From children adults can learn how to care for and support children, and also how to live in peaceful and cooperative society. We don’t need to wait for the next generation of children to grow up to create a better society. Children can show us the way now.

Korczak argued that “Books with their ready-made formulas have dulled our vision and slackened the mind. Living by other people’s experience, research, and opinions, we have lost our self-confidence and we fail to observe things for ourselves.” Observation requires patience. Korczak asks, “How can we assure a child’s future, if we have not yet learned how to live consciously and responsibly in the present? Do not trample, hold in contempt, or sell the future into bondage. Do not stifle it, rush or force it. Respect every single moment, as it will pass and will never again be repeated.” While adults live with children in the present and experience life and learning with them he reminds us that “children are not the people of tomorrow, but are people of today. They have a right to be taken seriously, and to be treated with tenderness and respect. They should be allowed to grow into whoever they were meant to be—the unknown person inside of them is our hope for the future.” 

Like his older contemporary, Jean Piaget in France, Korczak’s observations of children convinced him that “the child’s thinking is neither more limited nor inferior to that of an adult. It is different. The child thinks with feelings and not with the intellect.” In another place he points out, “The soul of a child is as complicated as ours and is full of complications.” These observations lead naturally to the importance of respecting children. He called on adults to base their relationships with children on respect; “Respect for the mysteries and the ups and downs of that difficult task of growing up. Respect for the here and now, for the present. How will she be able to get on in life tomorrow, if we are not allowing her to live a conscious, responsible life today? We must respect every moment, because each will pass and never return.”

In describing children Korczak says that “any child is an unequivocal democrat and does not recognize hierarchies.” He also recognizes the responsibilities that parents and teachers have. His respect for children involves listening to them and supporting them. It does not mean letting them do whatever they want. He explains, “How do you hope to initiate your child into life, if she holds the conviction that everything is correct, just and rationally motivated and consistent? Teach children not only to value truth, but also to recognize lies; not only to respect, but also to feel contempt; not only to become reconciled, but also to feel outrage; not only to give in, but also to rebel….Let the child discover for herself, slowly, the need for altruism, its beauty, and its sweetness.”

Korczak was not only a theoretician; he was a practitioner. His written work grew out of his experience with children in hospitals and orphanages. The best summary of his theories is the way he organized his orphanage. The children held each other and their teachers accountable. Korczak created a Children’s Court with five child judges. A teacher was the clerk of the court. Any child could bring a grievance. The accused would face the judgment of his peers. Korczak is reported to have subjected himself to the justice of the court. He claims that in one six month period he appeared before the court six times.

All quotations are taken from Loving Every Child, Janusz Korczak, edited by Sandra Joseph, translated by Teresa Prout and Anna Hargest Gorzelak, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, (2007)