2 - A Progressive Education

Summary

Chapter 2 describes the family in which he grew up. Both his parents were teachers, and his father Dirk Cornelis was a quite prominent figure in The Hague. Dirk Cornelis Tinbergen held a PhD in Dutch medieval literature and was part of progressive educational milieu that sought to renew pedagogical methods and the Dutch spelling. His mother stayed home after she had children, but she stimulated the societal awareness of Jan Tinbergen. He had four siblings, two of which also pursued scientific careers. Luuk and Niko Tinbergen were both successful biologists; Niko won a Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine in 1973, four years after Jan Tinbergen won the Nobel Prize in economics. It is argued that the family was an example of Bildungsbürgertum. In the education of the children there was ample attention to culture and the study of nature. Unlike his brothers, Jan had little appetite for outdoor life and from a young age was more drawn to the exact sciences and modern industry, in particular, the trams in The Hague.