Horace Mann Blog Third Edition

Horace Mann’s Words are as Relevant as Ever

For the third and likely final edition of my Horace Mann Blog I thought it might be interesting to speculate how Horace Mann would stand on some of the controversial issues that currently face public education.

As you would know from my prior blog posts, Horace Mann in his years spent as the secretary of the newly formed State Board of Education for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts opened a new phase in the history of American education. Jonathon Messerli in his famous biography of Mann states that “Mann has quite literally been canonized as the father of American public education” (Meserli pg iv). Having over 5,000 public schools all across America named after him is a testament to his stature. Mann used his post to communicate a philosophy of public education. By doing so he united and inspired reformers across the country to develop a universal system of government supported education that still is in effect today.

His most important contributions to education were his writings on the problems and opportunities in the field of education. He did so mostly in his twelve annual reports issued as the secretary of the board (Forner pg.377). In his preface to his Classics in Education series, Lawrence Cremin states that “these reports range far and wide through the filed of education eloquently stating the case for the public school and insightfully discussing it’s problems. Their cogency of their analysis is measured by their striking relevance today: to peruse them is consider some of the most fundamental problems of contemporary American education.” (Cremin pg 7)

Taking that as a challenge I thought I would see if Mann’s words could provide a clue to how he would stand on some of the current issues facing contemporary American education. The issues and discussion follow:

Teacher Quality and Compensation

There are hundreds of websites and postings on the issues facing American education and virtually all of them begin with a discussion on the quality of teachers. They also weigh in on their views of how should teachers be paid. Some of them support merit pay for teachers and others promote stronger standards for teacher credentialing. In any case American education is focusing on the teachers as it strives to improve.

Mann spent a great deal of his writings on the need for quality teachers. In the Fourth Annual Report he describes teaching “as the momentous task of training the children of the state”. In that report he lays out his views on teachers. He notes that “teachers need to have a perfect knowledge rudimental branches that are require by law to be taught in our schools”. (Cremin pg. 45) Also, that teachers need to posses the “the aptness of teaching” that is the “ability to impart knowledge which embraces a knowledge of processes and methods”. (Cremin pg. 46) Finally, he notes that teachers must be able to manage govern the school, and have strong moral character. These few quotes don’t do him justice. All of his writings support teaching as a profession. There can be little doubt that he would support efforts to evaluate, hold accountable and fairly pay public school teachers.

School Choice
Perhaps no issue in education stirs more passion than school choice. That term has become a catch-all phrase for a diverse array of issues including the need for government to provide vouchers to patents that wish to send their children to private schools and the right of parents to send their children to public schools in different districts. The idea is that choice promotes competition and that through competition schools will need to improve or go out of business. Not everyone agrees and the debate is often biter.

Unlike many public school supporters of today, Horace Mann did not oppose private schools. He wrote in the Twelfth Annual Report that the common school concept requires that input be taken for all of society and the losing the, money, voices, and talents of the parents and children who chose private schools would be a loss for the common school concept ( Cremin pg. 36) However he did not want to eliminate all private schools. Instead he welcomed competition stating the “only answer was the improvement and elevation of the common school. Cremin states that “Mann never once suggested the elimination of private schools. Instead he sought to win over their constituencies in open competition with quality as the test”. (Cremin pg.25) I think Mann would support choice and competition between schools. I am certain he would support the right of parents to choose a private education for their children. His answer to the critics of vouchers would be to get better at what you are doing and children will come back.

Control of the Schools

One last issue that is plaguing public education is the fight for control of the schools. The Economist in its October 3rd, 2009 issue has an article about the reform efforts being pushed by the Obama administration. The article describes a $10 billion program that the administration through its education secretary wants to give to schools that “pursue specific guidelines and meet certain goals” (The Ecomomist pg 33). Given the current state of public funding for schools it is widely understood that these guidelines will need to be followed. This is causing some to see the actions as a federal take over of American schools. At the same time others as pushing in the opposite direction. Charter schools with complete local control are extremely popular and home schooling is on the rise. There are currently over 3,000 charter schools (uscharterschools.org) and it is estimated that over 2 million children are home schooled at some point prior to high school. (kidsource.com) Who runs the schools is a hot topic in American education.

Horace Man believed in public control of public schools. His rational was that the public is paying for the school through taxes and therefore interested and second that public control would eliminate partisan control. He believed in the commonness of the school and wanted it to be a “place where everyone was involved and each learned for each other”. (Cremin pg. 19) He wrote in the Tenth Annual Report of the need for strong central control so that “the public could define the public philosophy that should be taught to it children” (Cremin pg.21) In that report, he also resisted the call for specialized or localize schools with local programs instead call for a common school program of generalized education.” (Cremin pg. 35) I don’t know what he would think about federal control of schools. That would have been a foreign concept to him. However he would believe in a strong set of moral principals that would apply to every school and that every child would learn. I don’t know if that would be possible today. Think he would however oppose charter schools and home schooling. In the Tenth annual report he argued against very local control as undermining the commonness of the schools and need for all citizens to be taught alike. (Cremin pg. 61)

I think that Horace Mann, were he alive today, would be a strong voice for his positions. His passion for the need to educate children and his belief in the obligation of a society to educate its young would make him an active crusader. But even though he died over one hundred fifty years ago his words live on. Educators today use them as they make arguments and take positions on behalf of children. That is perhaps the biggest testament to his life’s work.


Bibliography

Cremin, Lawrence A. Editor: The Republic and School, Horace Mann, On the Education of Free Men, Columbia Press, 1957 New York, New York

Messerli, Jonathon: Horace Mann, A Biography, Alfred Knopf, 1971 New York

Foner, Eric: Give Me Liberty, An American History, W Norton & Company, 2006, New York

http://www.edweek.org/ew/index.html
http://www.uscharterschools.org/pub/uscs_docs/o/faq.html#8
http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content2/home.schooling.html
No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 Public Law 107 – 110
The Economist Volume 393 Number 8651 October 3-9th 2009

The Horace Mann Blog 2nd Edition

The Horace Mann Blog
2nd Edition.

In our first edition of the Horace Mann blog we introduced you to the Twelfth Annual report by Horace Mann. Horace Mann while Secretary to the Massachusetts State Board of Education, published twelve annual reports. While required by law, these reports do much more than provide a public record of the activities of the State board. They set out a philosophy on the value and place of public education in the United States.

The Twelfth Report is considered the most important by educators. It is his last report written after he had left the board to assume a seat in congress made vacant when John Quincy Adams became President. Mann knew this report was his last and is it “far and away the most inclusive and searching of the twelve documents. It draws together all of the themes of the earlier reports into one great credo of public education” (Cremin pg. 179)

All of the themes raised by Mann in the Twelfth Report have stood the test of time. They are time honored set of principles that are used today to understand current controversies like voucher programs, the separation of church and state in public instruction, and value of good education on both the American economy and its political functioning.

In our last blog we identified the four major principles set out by Mann as justification for a functioning public education system. In this blog we aim to take that discussion one step further. We intend to explain the philosophical history and background each of the principles in order to see where they came from. Each of these ideas and principles came from somewhere. Whether from the mind of Horace Mann himself, or as part of the period of reform in which he lived, it is interesting to see why he thought the way he did and how his time in the reform age influenced his thoughts.

Mann’s Principles of Public Education
Public Education is Means of Removing Poverty and Securing Abundance

In the Twelfth Report, Mann set out his argument that a strong Public school system. He argues that the advancement of a society and its economy is dependent on the intelligence of its citizens. Of course he notes that the overall intelligence of a society is linked to its willingness to provide each child with a quality education. (Cremin pg. 88) This idea seems to come from Mann’s belief and understanding in the right of self–determination of each individual. He notes in the report how in Europe everyone has a preordained lot in life whether it is as a worker or a nobleman. He notes that European society is disadvantaged by this thinking and that the American approach that everyone can become whatever they want to become is better for society. It allows the best in everyone to come forth. (Cremin pg. 88) This is an idea that comes directly from the reform age. (Foner pg 296) Mann believed that a system of education could make equal the opportunities for every person and by giving everyone equal opportunity American had a chance to eliminate poverty and create great wealth.

Public Education Must be Separate from Religious Education

The most controversial and difficult part of the public school movement was its opposition to religious based schools. Mann and his fellow public school proponents argued that the private school system impacted the public school system in two different and very negative ways. First they take the children and parents of the upper class away from the public schools depriving them of the talents of the parents on the school boards and parent committees. Plus, they deprive the other school children the examples that could be set by most well to do children. (Cremin pg 25) Second, he argued that private schools took money from the public coffers that was desperately needed to educate America’s youth. (Cremin pg 25) This seems to come from a uniquely American point of view. Mann rails against private schools as a tradition in the worst tradition of European society. (Mann pg 89) He seems to be a populist at heart that see value in bringing every kind of race, creed, and religion together to have them share and be educated together.

Public Schools are a Place to Provide a Moral Education

Mann is a moralist that sees education as a means to promote the moral good of man. The Twelfth Report states that moral education is the primal necessity of social existence. (Mann pg 99) He complains that the natural parent child relationship is not sufficient to ensure that we raise a moral and just society. Instead he believes that the schoolroom is the proper place to instill the proper moral guidance in every child that is necessary for our ongoing well being. As Mann says “train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart form it”. (Mann pg 100). In this regard Mann is step with the social reformers of his era. Like Noyes, Owen and Lee and the others that sought a more perfect society, Mann is seeking the same. He is looking to make the perfect moral society by teaching every child the right way to think and behave.

A Republican Form of Government requires an Educated Public

In the Twelfth Report Mann devoted a great deal of effort to discussion what he calls “political education”. (Mann pg 89) He argues that a republican form of government where representatives are elected by the public to conduct the government business requires an educated public. He likens a republican form of government without an educated and intelligent public as the same as a “mad house without a keeper or superintendent”. (Mann pg 90) With this position Mann seems to be again championing the common man. He was a reformer at heart being active in the abolition and temperance movements as well as the movement to reform public education. (Messerli pg 377) His arguments seemed to imply that the elite class within a society does not always have the best approach to curing society’s ills and that the people need to active in setting the proper course for government. He sees this as best done by an intelligent society. In the Twelfth Report Mann links education and intelligence so he can state that an education is necessary for functioning republican government. (Mann pg 90) That seems to be the reformer in him speaking out.

Conclusion

As his most famous biographer puts it, “living at a time when political and technological revolutions seemed to be ushering in the new dawn of an age of unprecedented human welfare” Mann “sought to make his mark on society” (Messerli pg xii) . He was a product of his time but also someone that made a profound make on American society.

Bibliography

Cremin, Lawrence A. 1957. The Republic and the School: Horace Mann on the Education of Free Men. New York: Teachers College Press.

Mann, Horace. Education and prosperity. From his Twelfth Annual Report as Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education, 1848. [Boston: Directors of the Old South Work, 1903].
Messerli, Jonathan. Horace Mann: A Biography. New York: Knopf, 1972

Horace Mann

Horace Mann and the Twelfth Annual Report to the Massachusetts Board of Education

It may be hard to imagine that going to school was a rare occurrence for children in the United States in the years before the Civil War. Only in the last half of the 1800’s, was an elementary school system provided and funded by the State a common practice. (Tharpe pg. 15) At that time laws requiring parents to send their children to elementary schools became the norm. The person most commonly credited with the development of widespread education for all citizens in the United States is Horace Mann.

Prior to Mann’s efforts in the 1830’s and 1840’s, only private schools existed and education was generally limited to the very rich (Cremin pg. 24). The vast majority of Americans received no formal education and instead simply followed their parents into the workforce. As part of the reform movements of the 1800’s, when a lot of the roles of the state in society were questioned and changed, Mann and his like- minded colleagues fought for an educational system that was open to everyone.

Mann was born into privilege and was one of the few Americans that had access to an education. He was educated at Brown University and later studied law. While a lawyer he became involved in Massachusetts’ state politics. As a state official he sought an appointment to the newly created state Board of Education. In 1937 he was “appointed secretary of the newly organized board of education” (Cremin pg. 140). Required by state law to make an annual report to the legislature on the condition of the state's school districts and programs, Mann turned the legal mandate into a yearly treatise on educational philosophy and methods.

These annual reports laid out the arguments and philosophy behind the need for the benefits of widespread compulsory public supported education. Over 150 years later these reports are still remarkable in the clarity and logic of Mann’s thoughts. Even today they are widely circulated and read in Education departments of Universities and in Scholl Boards across all of America. The ideas and arguments he set forth are raised over and over in debates on the value and need for funding for public schools and in the endless debates on school voucher programs. They are in many ways the logical and philosophical underpinning of our entire system of education.

The Twelfth Annual Report published in 1848 is considered the most famous of his annual reports. This primary source report deals with the broad topic of education and national welfare. This primary source is a public record written to the people of Massachusetts. Horace Mann wrote this document to set expectations to the people of Massachusetts and the nation outlining his views on what American education in a democracy should look like. In this report he makes three main points.

The first point made in the report is that education is the great equalizer in society and without an open access to a quality a society can never truly be free and equal. He states in the report that “education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery” (Mann pg. 4). He argues that the goal of a free society must allow every citizen to “strive to obtain for themselves and their families that the necessities and conveniences of life” and not “accept what is needed for life form the hand of charity or extorted by poor laws” (Mann pg. 4). His view is that “education should be universal and complete to obliterate fractious distinctions in society” (Mann pg. 4).

The second argument is in the report is that in the best interest of society that the public be educated and that and ignorant public is creates a burden that is far greater than the cost of an education. In his words “every addition to true knowledge is an addition to human power” (Mann pg. 7). He argues that all of society will improve as the “intellectual consistency” of all citizens increases. If there is an educated society then “contributions to the common good and wealth of all would numberless and inestimable value” (Mann pg 8). He also argues that the current wealthy class would benefit from the education of the masses. “To men of property he asserted that their security and prosperity depended upon having literate and law-abiding neighbors who were competent workers and who would, via the common school, learn of the sanctity of private property” (Mann pg. 10).

His final point in the Twelfth Annual Report is that a republican form of government is too complicated to function without an educated public making informed decisions in selecting those who represent them. His view was that through education and the resulting educated public, “educated legislators will never surpass their elector” (Mann pg 13). He also was adamant that a well informed and educated public was critical to understand the “true nature and functions of a government under which they live” (Mann pg. 15).

In other annual report he set out his ideas on education. May of these ideas were radical at their time and were not often well received. He argued that such education to ensure equality and equal treatment for everyone that this education should be paid for, controlled, and sustained by an interested public (Cremin pg. 157). Further he argues that a free society requires that this education will be best provided in schools that embrace children of all diversities. An education in a diverse setting furthers the goals of free society which he argues cannot be done when that education is provided in a sectarian or religious setting (Cremin pg 157). Finally he argued that that this education must be taught by the spirit, methods, and discipline of a free society; and which can only be provided by well-trained, professional teachers (Tharp pg. 215).

As is clear in his Twelfth Annual Report, Mann's commitment to common schools stemmed from his belief that political stability and social harmony depended on universal education. One hundred and fifty year after its publication, the report still stands out as a call to educate all of our society and a way of making all of our lives better and allowing us to live in greater freedom.

References

Cremin, Lawrence A. 1957. The Republic and the School: Horace Mann on the Education of Free Men. New York: Teachers College Press.

Mann, Horace. Education and prosperity. From his Twelfth Annual Report as Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education, 1848. [Boston: Directors of the Old South Work, 1903].

Messerli, Jonathan. Horace Mann: A Biography. New York: Knopf, 1972.

Tharp, Louise Hall, Until victory: Horace Mann and Mary Peabody, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1977