late 18th-century school (1774–93) founded in Dessau, Germany, by the educator Johann Bernhard Basedow (Basedow, Johann Bernhard) to implement the educational ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Rousseau, Jean-Jacques). Aiming to foster in its students a humanitarian worldview and awareness of the community of interest among all people, it taught rich and poor boys together regardless of religious or class distinctions. The school had many enthusiastic supporters, among them the philosophers Immanuel Kant, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, and Moses Mendelssohn, and its influence spread to neighbouring countries, particularly Switzerland.

Basedow believed in state rather than religious control of education (education, philosophy of) and in a pragmatic approach to teaching. He stressed modern rather than classical languages, teaching them through conversation and games. Scientific subjects such as natural history, anatomy, and physics and practical ones such as carpentry were emphasized. Physical education was an important part of the curriculum. Further, in an age when many schools were noted for their harsh discipline, Basedow held that school could be so pleasant and absorbing that punishment would be virtually unnecessary.