Jan Ceton (13 May 1875,

Bodegraven Bodegraven () is a town and former municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The former municipality covers an area of of which is water. The former municipality of Bodegraven also includes the communities Me ...

– 21 January 1943,

Amerongen Amerongen () is a town in the Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of Utrechtse Heuvelrug in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Province of Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands, on the border of the Utrecht Hill Ridge. It lies ab ...

) was a

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

left-wing politician involved with both the Social Democratic Workers' Party and the

Communist Party of the Netherlands The Communist Party of the Netherlands (, , CPN) was a communist party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1909 as the Social Democratic Party (Netherlands), Social Democratic Party (SDP) and merged with the Pacifist Socialist Party, the ...

. Ceton is best known as one of the founders of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

, which later provided the core of the

Background

His father, Huijg Ceton, was descended from an English or Scottish soldier who had been stationed in Schoonhoven around 1620. His family were convinced they were descended from

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

and turned the name into 'Seton' or 'Ceton'. They traditionally worked as coppersmiths. His mother, Maria Sterk, came from a family of artisans and farmers. However Ceton's father broke with tradition becoming a teacher at the public primary school in Bodegraven. Ceton decided to follow his father into teaching. In September 1890 he enrolled as a student at the Dutch National School for Teachers in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

. Although he was considered one of the best youngsters of his year he failed to get his teaching certificate as a primary school teacher in April 1894. In October he successfully retook the exams and started in January 1895 as a teacher at the public primary school in

Alphen aan den Rijn Alphen aan den Rijn (; or "Alphen on the Rhine") is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The city is situated on the banks of the river Oude Rijn (Utrecht and South Holland), Oude Rijn (Old Rhine ...

. By studying in his spare time he gained full qualifications as of teacher in October 1898. Then on 1 June 1899 he was employed as a schoolteacher at School 130 Amsterdam, later Kastanjeplein school in Oosterparkbuurt.

Approach to pedagogy

As a young teacher, Ceton opposed too strong an emphasis on book wisdom. He took the school children on long nature walks advocated this form of pedagogy during meetings of teachers from the Oude Rijn area. He wrote about

butterflies Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

for the magazine ''De Levende Natuur'' (''Living Nature'') of

Eli Heimans Eli Heimans (28 February 1861 – 22 July 1914) was a Dutch nature educator and conservationist. Along with Jacobus Thijsse he popularized outdoors nature education through his writings. Heimans was born in Zwolle to a Jewish family of textile dy ...

, Jasper Jaspers and Jac. P. Thijsse. This interest nature led him to resist the existing form of Christian education, and more generally the social relations in society. The Calvinist dominance in the local area led the municipalities to marginalize public primary education. His friend, C. Bijkerk, a teacher in Oudshoorn and later an activist with the Social Democratic Workers' Party, publicly campaigned against this in the local magazine ''De Rijnbode'', also exposing the deplorable social conditions of the working class. Ceton became departmental secretary of the Nederlandsch Onderwijzers Genootschap (Dutch Education Association).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ceton, Jan 1875 births 1943 deaths Communist Party of the Netherlands politicians Dutch educators Social Democratic Workers' Party (Netherlands) politicians People from Bodegraven