Horace Mann! Where Art Thou? Thy Nation's Learners Need New Ways To Learn!

Quoting Wikipedia: 

"No one did more than Horace Mann to establish in the minds of the American people the conception that education should be universal, non-sectarian and free.

Furthermore he held that its aims should be "social efficiency, civic virtue, and character," rather than mere learning or the advancement of sectarian ends.

Arguing that universal public education was the best way to educate unruly American children into disciplined, judicious republican citizens, Horace Mann won the approval of modernizers.....for building public schools. Most states adopted a version of the system Mann established in Massachusetts. Educational historians credit Horace Mann as father of the Common School Movement.^"

What would YOU do today to improve K12 learning? Let's say you're on Horace Mann's Revision Committee for K12 Reform. From what you know and experienced, how would you design effective new learning and helps us forget schooling as we now know it?  Would you keep grouping learners by age instead of by their needs? In other words, how can you find a way to educate students so that "More May Learn More." Socrates had the same goal thousands of years ago. We're still far, far from making it happen.

Horace Mann was born on May 4, 1796. His father was a farmer without much money. From ten years of age to twenty, he had no more than six weeks' schooling during any year,^[4] but he made use of the town library. At the age of 20, he enrolled at Brown University and graduated in three years^[5] as valedictorian (1819). The theme of his oration was "The Progressive Character of the Human Race."^[6]

It was not until he was appointed secretary in 1837 of the newly created board of education of Massachusetts (the first such position in the United States) that he began the work which was to place him in the foremost rank of American educators. Previously, he had not shown any special interest in education. He was encouraged to take the job only because it was a paid office position established by the legislature. He began as secretary of the board. On entering on his duties, he withdrew from all other professional or business engagements and from politics.

This led him to become the most prominent national spokesman for that position. He held this position, and worked with a remarkable intensity, holding teachers' conventions, delivering numerous lectures and addresses, carrying on an extensive correspondence, and introducing numerous reforms.

In 1838, he founded and edited The Common School Journal. In this journal, Mann targeted the public school and its problems. His six main principles were: (1) the public should no longer remain ignorant; (2) that such education should be paid for, controlled, and sustained by an interested public; (3) that this education will be best provided in schools that embrace children from a variety of backgrounds; (4) that this education must be non-sectarian; (5) that this education must be taught by the spirit, methods, and discipline of a free society; and (6) that education should be provided by well-trained, professional teachers. Mann worked for more and better equipped school houses, longer school years (until 16 years old), higher pay for teachers, and a wider curriculum.

Mann hoped that by bringing all children of all classes together, they could have a common learning experience. This would also give an opportunity to the less fortunate to advance in the social scale and education would "equalize the conditions of men." Moreover, it was viewed also as a road to social advancement by the early labor movement and as a goal of having common schools. Mann also suggested that by having schools it would help those students who did not have appropriate discipline in the home. 

Building a person's character was just as important as reading, writing and arithmetic. Instilling values such as obedience to authority, promptness in attendance, and organizing the time according to bell ringing helped students prepare for future employment. Mann faced some resistance from parents who did not want to give up the moral education to teachers and bureaucrats. The normal schools trained mostly women, giving them new career opportunities as teachers.^[12]

The practical result of Mann's work was a revolution in the approach used in the common school system of Massachusetts, which in turn influenced the direction of other states. In carrying out his work, Mann met with bitter opposition by some Boston schoolmasters who strongly disapproved of his innovative pedagogical ideas,^[13] and by various religious sectarians, who contended against the exclusion of all sectarian instruction from the schools. Mann is often called "the father of American public education."

“If any man seeks for greatness, let him forget greatness 

and ask for truth, and he will find both.” 

“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.”

Education...beyond all other devices of human origin, is a great equalizer of conditions of men --the balance wheel of the social machinery.”

“Let us not be content to wait and see what will happen, but give us the determination to make the right things happen.”