Groepsportret SDP, Afdeling Rotterdam, Congres, 1911

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 Mei ...

– 21 January 1943,

Amerongen Amerongen () is a town in the municipality of Utrechtse Heuvelrug in the province of Utrecht, Netherlands, on the border of the Utrecht Hill Ridge. It lies about 7 km (4.3 mi) southwest of Veenendaal (10.5 km or 6.5 mi by road). The ...

) was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

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

Communist Party of the Netherlands The Communist Party of the Netherlands ( nl, Communistische Partij Nederland, , CPN) was a Dutch communist party. The party was founded in 1909 as the Social-Democratic Party (SDP) and merged with the Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Party ...

. 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 For ...

, 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 ( , also , ) were a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss politica ...

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) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

. 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 (; en, "Alphen upon Rhine" 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 (Old Rhine), where the r ...

. 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 insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

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

Eli Heimans Eli most commonly refers to: * Eli (name), a given name, nickname and surname * Eli (biblical figure) Eli or ELI may also refer to: Film * ''Eli'' (2015 film), a Tamil film * ''Eli'' (2019 film), an American horror film Music * ''Eli'' (Jan ...

Jasper Jaspers Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref> ...

and

Jac. P. Thijsse Jacobus Pieter Thijsse (25 July 1865 – 8 January 1945) was a Dutch conservationist and botanist. He founded the Society for Preservation of Nature Monuments in the Netherlands. In 1925, on the occasion of his 60th birthday he was honored ...

. 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