Horace Mann
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Tags: Education, Historical, Humanitarian & Public Safety, Horace Mann, education, public school, free education, learning, innovator By: RaviStar |
"Be Ashamed to Die Until You Have Won Some Victory for Humanity"
Labor and learning
Horace Mann was born on May 4th, 1796 in Franklin Massachusetts, into poverty and hardship. He was raised on the family farm and his youth consisted mainly of hard manual labor and sparse periods of eight to ten weeks of schooling a year. However, his thirst for learning was not well quenched by such little instruction, so he found himself making frequent trips to the town library, which was founded by Benjamin Franklin. The library contained mostly historical books and documents on theological topics. He had taught himself sufficiently enough to earn entry into Brown University as a sophomore by the age of 20. He graduated and received his degree in less than three years as a valedictorian in 1819, and began to study law at Litchfield Law School; during this time he taught on the side. In 1827, until 1833, Mann served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives; meanwhile he was accepted to the Norfolk, Massachusetts bar and in 1830 married Charlotte Messer, whom unfortunately passed away just two years later. He began his law practice in Dedham, Massachusetts, which was known to be the home of the first free (tax-supported) public school system, and served on the school committee until moving to Boston in 1833. From 1833 to 1837 he served in the Massachusetts Senate and was the Senate President for the final two years. Some of his important legacies in policymaking were establishing a state mental institution and beginning the first state education board.
The Father of American Education
In 1837, he left his law practice to take the newly founded position of Secretary of Education. In his twelve years serving this position, Horace Mann crusaded for education reform on almost all fronts in Massachusetts. Guided by the Jeffersonian belief that the public must be literate and educated to be able to maintain political stability and social harmony. More detailed accomplishments concerning education that Mann initiated were establishing free libraries, higher pay and professional training for teachers, a single state school system as opposed to several smaller districts, discouraged corporal punishment, classroom separation for different skill levels, well equipped schools, and schooling at least six months a year, until the age of sixteen. Most importantly, he promoted non-sectarian education, meaning that no form of discriminations was to be used in any form. This was influenced by his humanistic and abolitionist views, but also the knowledge that it was necessary for the advancement of the common school. Though his reforms met with some opposition from Boston schoolmasters, Mann’s influence spread throughout not only Massachusetts, but also New York and slowly into surrounding states. In 1838, he also founded and published The Common School Journal, and in addition, twelve Annual Reports. Both of these endeavors were very well circulated and highly regarded still today.
Leadership and legacy
In 1848, Mann was called upon to fill a vacancy in congress due to the death of John Quincy Adams. During this time, he fought strongly against the injustice of slavery; however in 1853, he was named the president of Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. There he taught classes on political science, economics, moral philosophy and theology. The college had problems in terms of financing due to its founders, the Christian Connexion, breaking away because of Mann’s non-sectarian will to educate anyone and everyone that wanted to be educated. Though having once been a Calvinist, he had become a non-denominational Unitarian and did not wish to discriminate on basis of religion. This financial burden is said to have affected Mann’s health for the worse, as he spent the rest of his life attempting to secure funding for the college. Despite his challenges, he was well loved by his students and left a lasting impact on education in the Midwest. He was known for having appointed the first female faculty member to be treated equally as her male counterparts. Antioch was also known to be the first higher education facility in America to accept and educate women equally, and one of the first to recruit and treat black students equally to their male counterparts.
Labor and learning
Horace Mann was born on May 4th, 1796 in Franklin Massachusetts, into poverty and hardship. He was raised on the family farm and his youth consisted mainly of hard manual labor and sparse periods of eight to ten weeks of schooling a year. However, his thirst for learning was not well quenched by such little instruction, so he found himself making frequent trips to the town library, which was founded by Benjamin Franklin. The library contained mostly historical books and documents on theological topics. He had taught himself sufficiently enough to earn entry into Brown University as a sophomore by the age of 20. He graduated and received his degree in less than three years as a valedictorian in 1819, and began to study law at Litchfield Law School; during this time he taught on the side. In 1827, until 1833, Mann served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives; meanwhile he was accepted to the Norfolk, Massachusetts bar and in 1830 married Charlotte Messer, whom unfortunately passed away just two years later. He began his law practice in Dedham, Massachusetts, which was known to be the home of the first free (tax-supported) public school system, and served on the school committee until moving to Boston in 1833. From 1833 to 1837 he served in the Massachusetts Senate and was the Senate President for the final two years. Some of his important legacies in policymaking were establishing a state mental institution and beginning the first state education board.
The Father of American Education
In 1837, he left his law practice to take the newly founded position of Secretary of Education. In his twelve years serving this position, Horace Mann crusaded for education reform on almost all fronts in Massachusetts. Guided by the Jeffersonian belief that the public must be literate and educated to be able to maintain political stability and social harmony. More detailed accomplishments concerning education that Mann initiated were establishing free libraries, higher pay and professional training for teachers, a single state school system as opposed to several smaller districts, discouraged corporal punishment, classroom separation for different skill levels, well equipped schools, and schooling at least six months a year, until the age of sixteen. Most importantly, he promoted non-sectarian education, meaning that no form of discriminations was to be used in any form. This was influenced by his humanistic and abolitionist views, but also the knowledge that it was necessary for the advancement of the common school. Though his reforms met with some opposition from Boston schoolmasters, Mann’s influence spread throughout not only Massachusetts, but also New York and slowly into surrounding states. In 1838, he also founded and published The Common School Journal, and in addition, twelve Annual Reports. Both of these endeavors were very well circulated and highly regarded still today.
Leadership and legacy
In 1848, Mann was called upon to fill a vacancy in congress due to the death of John Quincy Adams. During this time, he fought strongly against the injustice of slavery; however in 1853, he was named the president of Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. There he taught classes on political science, economics, moral philosophy and theology. The college had problems in terms of financing due to its founders, the Christian Connexion, breaking away because of Mann’s non-sectarian will to educate anyone and everyone that wanted to be educated. Though having once been a Calvinist, he had become a non-denominational Unitarian and did not wish to discriminate on basis of religion. This financial burden is said to have affected Mann’s health for the worse, as he spent the rest of his life attempting to secure funding for the college. Despite his challenges, he was well loved by his students and left a lasting impact on education in the Midwest. He was known for having appointed the first female faculty member to be treated equally as her male counterparts. Antioch was also known to be the first higher education facility in America to accept and educate women equally, and one of the first to recruit and treat black students equally to their male counterparts.
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From: madvillain
49 days ago
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