CHAPTER THREE Educational Aims in Historical Perspective HORACE MANN

Horace Mann

Mann and the Common Schools Served as secretary to the Massachusetts State Board of Education 1837-1848 His powers limited to the collection and dissemination of information regarding education in Massachusetts. Nevertheless… Created county educational conventions Distributed annual reports Established Common School Journal in 1839

Mann’s Central Issues School buildings Moral values Lessons from the Prussian school system School discipline Quality of teachers Economic value of schooling

School Buildings Dangerous conditions Improved physical setting of schools through Dangerous conditions Public encouragement for model districts Publication of school expenditures by town How does the quality of the physical environment affect teaching and learning?

Moral Values Irish immigrants vs. native workers Rich vs. poor Schools as agents of social harmony Irish immigrants vs. native workers Rich vs. poor Calvinists vs. liberal Christians Moral values as “common elements” of the common school (including the KJV) But...whose moral values?

Lessons from the Prussian School System Designed to develop Prussian nationalism and position German states for world leadership Reinforced Mann’s support for free, state-financed, state-controlled universal and compulsory schools

Lessons from the Prussian School System Aristocratic tier Vorschule (academic-based) Gymnasium (similar to university) Military academics/universities Common tier Volkshule (Three Rs & Patriotism) Workforce/technical schools/normal schools

School Discipline Spoke out against harsh treatment of students (e.g, beat the devil out…) The “pedagogy of love” rather than overt authoritarianism Teacher’s responsibility as moral agent Self-discipline ultimately supports self- government (necessary for society)

Quality of Teachers Emphasized need for special teacher preparation Normal schools created with pedagogical methods dominating curriculum Would train teachers for the volkschule The feminization of teaching The could be paid less More nurturing of children (See Passage Below)

Success of Common School Reforms Supported by diverse interests in Massachusetts, including financial interests Mann’s “common elements” was a satisfactory compromise for (most) religious interests Reforms incorporated popular classical liberal thinking (rationality, science, human perfectibility…)

Concluding Remarks Massachusetts political economy and ideology hospitable to state-funded and state-controlled schools Horace Mann as leading proponent of schooling as agent of cultural uniformity Questions remain about the implications of the common school era’s reforms (e.g., normal schools)