RATKE (RATCHIUS), WOLFGANG (1571-1635), German educationist, was born at Wilster, Holstein, on the 18th of October 1571, and educated at the university of Rostock. His system of education was based upon Bacon's philosophy, the principle being that of “proceeding from things to names,” from the particular to the general, and from the mother tongue to foreign languages. In 1618 he opened schools at Augsburg and elsewhere, but at Köthen difficulties with the clergy led to his imprisonment for eight months, and after starting another school at Magdeburg in 1620 which failed, he became a wanderer and died at Erfurt on the 27th of April 1635. His ideas were far in advance of his time, but he lacked executive ability.