Kees Boeke

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Kees Boeke" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Cornelis "Kees" Boeke (25 September 1884 – 3 July 1966)^[1] was a Dutch reformist educator, Quaker missionary and pacifist. He is best known for his popular essay/book Cosmic View (1957) which presents a seminal view of the universe, from the galactic to the microscopic scale, and which inspired several films.

Boeke tried to reform education by allowing the children to contribute their ideas. He called this process sociocracy and regarded schools as workshops, with pupils as workers, and teachers as co-workers. Based on Quaker ideas, he wanted the children to respect democracy. In 1926, he founded a school in Bilthoven, which he led until 1954. As a child, the later Dutch Queen Beatrix attended the school.