Horace Mann – Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education (1848)
On May 4, 1796, Horace Mann was born in Franklin, Massachusetts. Horace Mann is the first great American advocate of public education and is known as the “Father of the Common School”. Mann advocated that all children should receive equal schooling in reading, writing, arithmetic, and science; although he never received such education. He was born into poverty, but encouraged by his parents to become an educated man. Mann’s early education consisted of a combination of attending the district school, however, he was primarily self-taught in basic reading and writing. He later attended Brown University for law. In 1823, Mann was elected to the Massachusetts Legislature and …show more content…
In 1835, Mann was elected as the Massachusetts’s Senate, where he continued addressing the quality of education. In 1837, Massachusetts’ had created the nation’s first Board of Education with Mann as the secretary (Horace Mann). Mann used his position to create an education reform while spreading his ideas that public education ought to free, fair, and available to all; so that people of different social classes may have the opportunity to status in society.
While reading the Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education 1848, by Horace Mann, I quickly identified why he was such a significant educational reformer in our history. Throughout the report he discusses the importance of education as well as the role it plays for people within our society regarding social class. He identifies the differences in social …show more content…
With every generation, fortunes increase on the one hand, and some new privation is added to poverty on the other” (Horace Mann, Report). The differences in the quality of education amongst socioeconomic classes is visible as upper-class and upper-middle class children are provided with better education that the lower-class citizens. This is due to the wealthier families’ ability to afford to place their children in private schools eventually creating greater educational opportunities for them. The social classes will continue to widen as wealthy children are born into wealthy families and likewise regarding the poor. In addition, the inequality of education within the public school system is a major contributor of children being fed into the school-to-prison pipeline. Everyone is given the access to public education, however, I do not believe its equal in the form which Mann advocated. The public education system has an imbalance in opportunities for children of different social classes. Public schools in low-income areas are staffed with teachers who are inexperienced, as well as lack sufficient resources, affordable extracurricular activities or safe environments which are conducive for learning. In short, children within the lower-class are not being afforded the same quality of education as middle-class and upper-class
On May 4, 1796, Horace Mann was born in Franklin, Massachusetts. Horace Mann is the first great American advocate of public education and is known as the “Father of the Common School”. Mann advocated that all children should receive equal schooling in reading, writing, arithmetic, and science; although he never received such education. He was born into poverty, but encouraged by his parents to become an educated man. Mann’s early education consisted of a combination of attending the district school, however, he was primarily self-taught in basic reading and writing. He later attended Brown University for law. In 1823, Mann was elected to the Massachusetts Legislature and …show more content…
In 1835, Mann was elected as the Massachusetts’s Senate, where he continued addressing the quality of education. In 1837, Massachusetts’ had created the nation’s first Board of Education with Mann as the secretary (Horace Mann). Mann used his position to create an education reform while spreading his ideas that public education ought to free, fair, and available to all; so that people of different social classes may have the opportunity to status in society.
While reading the Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education 1848, by Horace Mann, I quickly identified why he was such a significant educational reformer in our history. Throughout the report he discusses the importance of education as well as the role it plays for people within our society regarding social class. He identifies the differences in social …show more content…
With every generation, fortunes increase on the one hand, and some new privation is added to poverty on the other” (Horace Mann, Report). The differences in the quality of education amongst socioeconomic classes is visible as upper-class and upper-middle class children are provided with better education that the lower-class citizens. This is due to the wealthier families’ ability to afford to place their children in private schools eventually creating greater educational opportunities for them. The social classes will continue to widen as wealthy children are born into wealthy families and likewise regarding the poor. In addition, the inequality of education within the public school system is a major contributor of children being fed into the school-to-prison pipeline. Everyone is given the access to public education, however, I do not believe its equal in the form which Mann advocated. The public education system has an imbalance in opportunities for children of different social classes. Public schools in low-income areas are staffed with teachers who are inexperienced, as well as lack sufficient resources, affordable extracurricular activities or safe environments which are conducive for learning. In short, children within the lower-class are not being afforded the same quality of education as middle-class and upper-class