Key Player in Education

Horace Mann

My Name is Horace Mann I was born into Poverty in Franklin, Massachusetts on May 4^th, 1796. I mostly taught myself until I turned 20 years old and then thanks to my hard work I was able to gain admittance into brown university located in Providence, Rhode Island. After Graduating I practiced law before successfully running for the state legislature in Massachusetts Serving in the House of representatives and then the Senate from 1827 to 1835. In 1837, I was chosen to head the state board of education, one of the first to be created in the country. I started a Biweekly journal called the “Common School Journal” in 1838. It was during this time that I developed my six principles for education

·      citizens cannot maintain both ignorance and freedom;

·       this education should be paid for, controlled and maintained by the public;

·      this education should be provided in schools that embrace children from varying backgrounds;

·      this education must be nonsectarian;

·      this education must be taught using tenets of a free society; and

·      this education must be provided by well-trained, professional teachers.

The last of these principles was extremely important as it lead to me establishing normal schools or schools made to train teachers the first of which was in Lexington in 1839. I ended my career serving from 1848 to 1853 in the US house of representatives and then became the President of Antioch college. 2 months before my death I gave a speech where I said, “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity”

Citation

Horace Mann. (2017, January 04). Retrieved January 18, 2018, from https://www.biography.com/people/horace-mann-9397522