Horace Mann: The Father of American

EducationLetisha James

EDGR 502- Developing Character Through Curriculum

Horace Mann was an American education reformist who

worked diligently to develop social harmony by creating public schools and through educating the teachers who

worked in them.

Photo retrieved from: http://www.distancelearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/horacemann.jpg

Character Value Lens My pioneer character educator best exemplifies

empathy- because... o He wanted a school that would be available and equal for

all, part of the birth-right of every American child, to be for rich and poor alike. Mann had found "social harmony" to be his primary goal of the school (King, n.d. para 2) .

A second valuable lens this pioneer character educator exemplifies is Integrity- because…o When Horace was born he was poor. Later in 1827, He was

elected to Massachusetts State Senate. “He was still poor, and for several years while he was in the Senate, he slept in his law office to save rent (Mitchell, 1993. para 1).” While being in office, he never allowed his position to change who he was.

Favorable Qualities Dignity

o Mann was the valedictorian of his college class. His valedictory address, on the gradual advancement of the human race in dignity and happiness (Cremin, 2014. Para 1)

Compassiono Growing up poor, Mann felt compassion for those who were forced to

grow up poor and uneducated. He vowed to change the social norms. (BrianWalther99, 2009)

Intellecto Mann spoke many different languages, and he also graduated at the top

of his class. He studied under some of the best minds. (Sanders, 2010) Influential

o Mann was influential in the development of teacher training schools and the earliest attempts to professionalize teaching. He was not the first to propose state-sponsored teacher training institutes, but he was crucial to the establishment of the first State Normal School (Levin, 1992,. Para 3).

Value: Social Justice

He believed that every American deserved the right to an education. “Horace Mann felt that a common school would be the "great equalizer." Poverty would most assuredly disappear as a broadened popular intelligence tapped new treasures of natural and material wealth. He felt that through education

crime would decline sharply as would a host of moral vices like violence and fraud. In sum, there was no end to the social good which might be derived from a common school (King, n.d. para

3 ).”

Discrepancies with Mann

Religious Beliefso From then on, Mann

constructed a God to fit his own wishes. Though he frequently used the term “God” in later writings and continued to struggle to understand God as he had created him (especially after the death of his first wife, whom he also idolized), he never returned to Christian beliefs.

Feminism in the classroom- o “…he argued forcefully for

the recruitment of women into the ranks of teachers, often through the Normal Schools (Levin, 1992. Para 3).

o I believe that males should have a hand in teaching children as well. Many times they can be just as effective, or even more effective than women.

“Let us not be content to wait and see what will

happen, but give us the determination to make

the right things happen” – Horace Mann

Resources BrianWalther99. (2009, May 1). Horace Mann - The father of American

education. [video file] Retrieved June 2, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAnTmplQ_tw

Cremin, L. A. (2014, January 20). Horace Mann (American educator). Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/3624666Horace-Mann

King, P. (n.d.). Horace Mann. Retrieved June 5, 2014, from https://www3.nd.edu/~rbarger/www7/mann.html

Levin, C. (1992). Only a teacher: Schoolhouse pioneers- Horace Mann. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/onlyateacher/horace.html

Mitchell, M. (1993). Encyclopedia Brunoniana | Mann, Horace. Retrieved from http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/Databases/Encyclopedia/search.php?serial=M0070

Sanders, L. (2010, May 20). Understanding the origins of the U.S. public school system: Horace Mann, part i. Retrieved June 3, 2014, from http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/view/sanders-understanding-the-origins- of-the-us-public-school-system-horace-man