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