Bohemian Brethren

In the midst of the Thirty Years' War, a Czech refugee named John Amos Comenius lost everything---his family, his home, his country. Yet he spent the rest of his life insisting on something that seemed impossible: that every child, everywhere, rich or poor, boy or girl, deserved an education. He created the first illustrated textbook, rejected corporal punishment, and mapped out a system of schools from kindergarten through university. He died largely unrecognized in 1670, but his seeds grew into the modern education system we now take for granted.