Sandy Trager
EDF 1005
Test 2
I will choose “Writing option #3: Who was known as the “Father of Public Education in America” and what was this man’s story?
Horace Mann was an American educational reformer and Whig politician who lived from 1796-1859 and had come to be known as the Father of Public Education in America. Which was due in part to, biographers thinking of him as an exceptional supporter of education for the masses, and his perception of main role of education to better the standards of American life. He helped start the Massachusetts State Board of Education, then in 1837 was named secretary of education. Much like the position currently held by the state superintendent of schools. At which time, he attempted to improve education, thinking that it needed to serve both realistic and impractical goals. Under realistic goals, he believed that both business and industry would be better served by educated workers, ensuring a stronger more effective financial system. Whereas, under impractical goals, he thought that public schools should both identify and support the natural skills in poor as well as rich children, and that they need to improve social disagreements. He then went on to denounce the alienation between the rich and the poor, Calvinists and religious reformers, Irish newcomers, and the local workers. Although, Mann, along with other allies fought a long and hard fight to win the approval of the public elementary schools. As difficult as the task ahead may have seemed to them, they succeeded in the end.
Then in 1839, he was influential in creating the first state-supported normal school, in Lexington, Massachusetts. These schools were 2-year teacher training programs, using both academic subjects and different teaching methods to educate the future teachers of tomorrow. Students attending these schools came straight from both elementary and post-secondary schools as graduates. Then by the 1900’s, the schools which Mr. Mann helped to create became the foundation for teacher education but lacked the strict white-collar training, which gave rise to the inferior treatment of teachers. Due in part to a lack of good contracts, no union protection, and the fact that it was considered an all-female job at the time, so it was held in poor regard. Teaching tenure in those days only received $75 a month, but as the 20th century moved on, teacher training earned larger approval and more money. As registration to these schools grew in acceptance, so did the need for “better-trained teachers.” Which in turn, gave rise to his “normal schools,” evolving into the colleges and universities we know of today!
He then went on to become one of the nation’s primary supporters of starting the first public school open to everyone. These common schools as they were known back in the 18 to 1900’s, were the basis of the public elementary schools we know today. It was during this fight that he began to push for better school standards, while frequently trying to build new and more improved schools. Which in other words stands to teach us, just how much we tend to take what we have today for granted! Instead we should reflect more on the past and understand where our education system came from. So that we can continue to improve upon the standards of our education system for future generations to come.