Horace Mann
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{{main|Prussian education system#United States}} |
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Mann's efforts to update and strengthen Massachusetts's public education system began before he was appointed secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education in 1837. He frequently communicated with fellow public education advocates and expressed an interest in learning how other governmental organizations approached educating their children. As part of his trip to Europe, Mann reported he visited:{{Cite web |title=Annual reports on education / by Horace Mann |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101068983400&seq=254 |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=HathiTrust |language=en}} England, Ireland, and Scotland; crossed the German Ocean to Hamburg; thence went to Magdeburg, Berlin, Potsdam, Halle, and Weissenfels, in the kingdom of Prussia; toMann explains the similarities and differences he saw in the various countries, and most notably, the lessons that American educators could learn from the various structures. Later in his report, he focuses on Prussia, given it had, in his words, "long enjoyed the most distinguished reputation for the excellence of its schools." The country's system would come to be known as the "[[Prussian education system|Prussian model]]" and included tax-payer funded schools, professional teacher education, and a "common" experience across all schools. Although his report covered a number of topics, including the education of deaf and blind children and mental health institutions, he focused his arguments on convincing the legislatures of the importance of a common elementary education and the professionalization, including training, of teachers. The common-school movement quickly gained strength across the North. Connecticut adopted a similar system in 1849, and Massachusetts passed a compulsory attendance law in 1852.{{cite book |first=Paul E. |last=Peterson |title=Saving Schools: From Horace Mann to Virtual Learning |year=2010 |pages=21–36 }}{{cite book |first=Jonathan |last=Messerli |title=Horace Mann: A Biography |year=1972 }} Mann's crusading style attracted wide middle-class support. Historian [[Ellwood Patterson Cubberley|Ellwood P. Cubberley]] asserts: |
Mann's efforts to update and strengthen Massachusetts's public education system began before he was appointed secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education in 1837. He frequently communicated with fellow public education advocates and expressed an interest in learning how other governmental organizations approached educating their children. As part of his trip to Europe, Mann reported he visited:{{Cite web |title=Annual reports on education / by Horace Mann |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101068983400&seq=254 |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=HathiTrust |language=en}} England, Ireland, and Scotland; crossed the German Ocean to Hamburg; thence went to Magdeburg, Berlin, Potsdam, Halle, and Weissenfels, in the kingdom of Prussia; to Leipzig and Dresden, the two great cities in the kingdom of Saxony; thence to Erfurt, Weimar, Eisenach, on the great route from the middle of Germany to Frankfort on the Maine; thence to the Grand Duchy of Nassau, of Hesse Darmstadt, and of Baden; and, after visiting all the principal cities in the Rhenish Provinces of Prussia, passed through Holland and Belgium to Paris.Mann explains the similarities and differences he saw in the various countries, and most notably, the lessons that American educators could learn from the various structures. Later in his report, he focuses on Prussia, given it had, in his words, "long enjoyed the most distinguished reputation for the excellence of its schools." The country's system would come to be known as the "[[Prussian education system|Prussian model]]" and included tax-payer funded schools, professional teacher education, and a "common" experience across all schools. Although his report covered a number of topics, including the education of deaf and blind children and mental health institutions, he focused his arguments on convincing the legislatures of the importance of a common elementary education and the professionalization, including training, of teachers. The common-school movement quickly gained strength across the North. Connecticut adopted a similar system in 1849, and Massachusetts passed a compulsory attendance law in 1852.{{cite book |first=Paul E. |last=Peterson |title=Saving Schools: From Horace Mann to Virtual Learning |year=2010 |pages=21–36 }}{{cite book |first=Jonathan |last=Messerli |title=Horace Mann: A Biography |year=1972 }} Mann's crusading style attracted wide middle-class support. Historian [[Ellwood Patterson Cubberley|Ellwood P. Cubberley]] asserts: |
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No one did more than he to establish in the minds of the American people the conception that education should be universal, non-sectarian, free, and that its aims should be social efficiency, civic virtue, and character, rather than mere learning or the advancement of sectarian ends.{{cite book |first=Ellwood P. |last=Cubberley |title=Public Education in the United States |year=1919 |page=167 }} |
No one did more than he to establish in the minds of the American people the conception that education should be universal, non-sectarian, free, and that its aims should be social efficiency, civic virtue, and character, rather than mere learning or the advancement of sectarian ends.{{cite book |first=Ellwood P. |last=Cubberley |title=Public Education in the United States |year=1919 |page=167 }} |
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Arguing that universal public education was the best way to turn the nation's unruly children into disciplined, judicious [[Republicanism in the United States|republican]] citizens, Mann won widespread approval for building public schools from modernizers, especially among fellow [[Whig Party (United States)|Whigs]]. Most northeast states adopted one version or another of the system he established in Massachusetts, especially the program for "normal schools" to train professional teachers.{{cite journal |first=Mark |last=Groen |title=The Whig Party and the Rise of Common Schools, 1837–1854 |journal=American Educational History Journal |year=2008 |volume=35 |issue=1/2 |pages=251–260 }} Critics of the common school, and later public school movement sometimes use the |
Arguing that universal public education was the best way to turn the nation's unruly children into disciplined, judicious [[Republicanism in the United States|republican]] citizens, Mann won widespread approval for building public schools from modernizers, especially among fellow [[Whig Party (United States)|Whigs]]. Most northeast states adopted one version or another of the system he established in Massachusetts, especially the program for "normal schools" to train professional teachers.{{cite journal |first=Mark |last=Groen |title=The Whig Party and the Rise of Common Schools, 1837–1854 |journal=American Educational History Journal |year=2008 |volume=35 |issue=1/2 |pages=251–260 }} Critics of the common school, and later public school movement sometimes use the a-historical phrase ''[[factory model school]]'' to describe the series of changes that happened to American schools over the 19th century. |
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==A Whig in Congress== |
==A Whig in Congress== |
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