"Teachers who attempt to teach
without first inspiring a desire to learn
are hammering on cold iron."
Horace Mann
(1796-1859)
Horace Mann is considered by many to be "the Father of American Public Education." He did more than perhaps any person to advance the cause of improving public education.
Mann abandoned a successful political career and devoted himself to advancing education as the first Secretary of the Massachusetts Commission to Improve Education -- later the State Board of Education. Mann used his post to unify disparate school districts.
Mann argued that schools were the logical place to inculcate democratic idealism, and gained the support of business to fund education. State aid to education and teacher salaries doubled during his tenure, as did the school year in many towns. He established training programs for teachers, district libraries and enacted the first compulsory school attendance laws in America. Mann wrote twelve annual reports which became blueprints for the organization of education around the country.
"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."
-- Horace Mann
