Janusz Korczak, the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit (July 22, 1878 – August 1942) was a Polish-Jewish author, pediatrician, and pedagogue. Korczak was one of the first pedagogues who changed the attitude of adults towards children. His general concept was that a child has a right to be respected; any child has his own way, his own path, on which he embarks immediately following birth.
The role of an adult is not to impose other goals on a child, but to help children achieve their own goals. His book How to Love a Child begins with the following sentence: You are saying: "Children are annoying." You clarify: "You need to always kneel to their perceptions." You are wrong. Because you actually need to tip-toe to their perceptions and ideals. Korczak’s most known saying is: There are no children – there are people.
