Horace Mann

Horace Mann was born in Franklin, Massachusetts on May 4, 1796. As a child, he received a very little amount of education and the education that he did receive was largely self-taught. However, he managed to graduate from Brown University at the top of his class in 1819. After graduating, Mann studied law alongside a lawyer in Wrentham, Massachusetts, taught classes at his alma mater, and studied at a law school in Connecticut. After graduating, he took a seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Beginning in 1835, he served for seven years. Then, he transported to Boston and served for three years in the Senate and was the president in 1836. Mann was most passionate about education. He disliked the way that the education system was ran by the local governments whose goal was to boost the economy. Therefore, he led the reorganization of the system and pushed for the return of it to state governments. Because of this, the Massachusetts state Board of Education was created in 1837. Many people had strong opinions about whether or not Mann should accept the secretarial job of the Board. However, he did anyway. Under his new position, Mann began writing a Common School Journal which was directed at teachers. He also wrote monthly reviews to the board addressing the pros and cons of the educational system. His reports focused on six main stances. Number one was “that a republic cannot long remain ignorant and free” and that because of that, education must be ran by a larger system that local governments. Number two was “that such education must be paid for, controlled, and sustained by an interested public.” Number three was this education system must be accepting of children of all types of “backgrounds.” Number four was that the education must not be “influenced [by] religion.” Number five was that the children must be taught with ways that stick with them, thus creating a uniformed “pedagogy” that prohibits too harsh methods of teaching. Finally, number six was that the education must come from teachers who have had the appropriate education themselves. Aside from these things that Mann pushed, he condemned the use of pastors as educators. Mann’s ideas were also very much disliked by “politicians” who believed that the board he created took away “local educational authority.” In 1848, Mann left the Board of Education to be in the United States Congress. Following an unsuccessful run for governor of Massachusetts, he became the president of a college in Ohio in 1853. While president, he was also a professor of theology and philosophy. He died two months after the graduation of his sixth class at Antioch College.

Works Cited
"Horace Mann." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2013): 1. MasterFILE
Premier. Web. 28 February 2013.
Lawrence A., Cremin. "Mann, Horace." Britannica Biographies (2012): 1. MasterFILE
Premier. Web. 28 February 2013

Cited: "Horace Mann." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2013): 1. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 28 February 2013. Lawrence A., Cremin. "Mann, Horace." Britannica Biographies (2012): 1. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 28 February 2013