Important Person/Event in the History of Higher Education\
Education reform, especially higher education reform, has always been part of far reaching reform struggles in the United States. Efforts to reform and expand education have long accompanied and influenced political, social, and economic struggles toward reform. A significant higher education reform period in the United States was experienced during the antebellum era – a period between the formation of the Union and the American Civil War. Three main education reform aspects are characteristic of the Antebellum Era: (1) education for the common person; (2) greater access to higher education for women; and (3) schooling for free blacks. This resulted in the “Common School Movement” that was spearheaded by Horace Mann (1796-1859), secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education and member of the Massachusetts state legislature (Conley, 2002). Horace Mann is widely acclaimed as “The Father of American Education.” In this paper, I explore Mann’s ideology and its impacts on higher education reforms in the United States.
Horace Mann was born to poor parents who lacked the means to give an education beyond basic ciphering and elementary reading. As such, his schooling consisted of only brief and erratic sessions of eight to ten weeks a year being taught by a teen schoolmaster while sitting on slab benches in tight rows. Mann educated himself by readings books from the Franklin Town Library, earning admission to the sophomore class at Brown University in 1816 (Thelin, 2011). He graduated first in his class three years later after writing an oration directly linking the success of American political experiment to the development of the country’s educational system. Mann proceeded to study law at the Litchfield Law School, after which he gained admission to the bar in 1823. In 1827 he was elected to the Massachusetts state legislature before winning the State Senate seat in 1833. Prior to his election, the Senate had grappled with the question of how public education could be utilized to better prepare citizens in the expanding young republic.
As the senate president, Horace accented to a bill establishing the Massachusetts State Board of Education, which one of its kind at time meant to disseminate statewide education information, improve the curriculum, teacher training methods, and learning facilities. His love for education reform and developed inspired him to resign his senate seat and take up a position as the first state Secretary of Education to the Massachusetts State Board Education board. As State Secretary of Education, he published at least twelve yearly reports on the correlation between the Republican government, freedom, and education (Conley, 2002). He used the annual reports to launch new education programs and sensitize the public about new ideas in teaching and school design. He encouraged the periodic coming together of teachers to share ideas.
In his Mann’s ideology, he expressed his belief in education as a child’s natural right and the need for education reform through state-run education boards, a more uniform curriculum, along with increased state involvement in teacher-training. He believed that all citizens, notwithstanding their race or economic status, were entitled to equal access to a tax-supported, tuition-free public education system. Mann was convinced in the potential of public education to be a stabilizing and equalizing force in the American society. He argued that proper education for the public would result in lasting change in terms of temperance and religious toleration (Thelin, 2011).
Mann worked hard to convince the whole Massachusetts state of his concept of common school system. He held numerous town meetings across the entire state in which he made pleas for statewide system of tuition-free education that would overcome the entrenched hierarchy of class in the American society. He faced significant opposition to his suggestions for increased funds to build adequate school, hire learned teachers, and supply them adequate learning resources. In order to solve the problem of inadequate instruction, Mann pushed for establishment of teacher training academies known as normal schools (Conley, 2002). These schools resulted in increased yearly instruction expertise as more capable graduated from them.
On his honeymoon trip to Europe, Mann met with Charles Dickens, then a respect social reformer and novelist. While on tour at the University of Berlin, Mann learned of the successful state certification process together with written for teachers implemented by Alexander von Humboldt. Mann came to the realization that such programs would solve the problem of incompetent teachers in Massachusetts (Thelin, 2011). His implementation of the idea resulted in increased uniformity of programs and quality of instruction. In 1837, his contribution led to the establishment of the first institution of higher education for women, the Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary in South Hadley. The university would admit women from all social-economic levels to gain education following a curriculum with clear moral vision.
In 1852, Mann would resign from Congress to become the first president of Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He pursued more the concept of publicly funded colleges and universities due to his conviction that church-sponsored institutions of higher learning undid the task of the free-school movement. As president of the college, Mann gradually brought about reform in the American higher education. Borrowing on the German idea of university reform, Mann pushed for an overhaul of the entire higher education system in America (Peterson, 2010). This would result in establishment of new colleges and universities that offered opportunities of higher education to previously marginalized groups such as African Americans and women. Mann rightly argued that higher education was crucial in having citizens with capacity to work more effectively and bring about equality among the different social classes in America. He proposed a valuable solution to make available higher education to as citizens as possible – stabling state-controlled institutions of higher learning. This enabled each college and university in every state to serve the general public of that state and admit people that do not belong to the denomination that funded the school (Peterson, 2010). The growth of higher education was crucial to building on the previous achievement in higher education which ultimately result into the quintessential system common with colleges and universities around the world today.
Conclusion
This paper has explored the contribution of a historical figure, Horace Mann, in the reform process of higher education in the United States. It is evident that Horace had significant contribution to the development of higher education during his leadership as Secretary of Education, member of the Senate and president of college. It is also evident that the education reform movement that Horace Mann championed resulted in increased opportunities for higher education during the Antebellum period. Mann’s efforts led to the establishment of more state-supported institutions of higher learning that opened doors to free blacks and women.
References:
Conley, B. E. (2002). Alternative schools: A reference handbook. Santa Barbara, Calif. [u.a.: ABC-CLIO.
Peterson, P. E. (2010). Saving schools: From Horace Mann to virtual learning. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Thelin, J. R. (2011). A history of American higher education. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
