Composition: History & Theory: 1800 - 1865
The Common School Movement
Description
This time period also saw the creation of the common school movement which brought about the common schoolhouse, schools as an instrument of government policy, and the creation of state agencies to control schools. This movement reflected current ideas about the social and political role of education, most importantly that human nature could be perfected through training within organized institutions. Between 1827 and 1833, Horace Mann served on the Massachusetts state legislature, and, during this time, the Massachusetts State Board of Education was established. In 1837 Mann accepted the position of secretary of the board after a month, during which time he read about phrenology, attended temperance meetings, experienced a firebomb in the hotel room next to him, and witnessed a riot between Irish Catholics and Protestants. Spring suggests that these factors prompted his decision.
According to Spring, Mann felt that education was the road to salvation of society. Before he left his position in 1848, he wrote the “Twelfth Annual Report of the Massachusetts State Board of Education.” In this document, Mann argued for moral and political education in the common school. Mann felt moral education should be based on the Bible; but, aware of the religious strife between Catholics and Protestants, he advocated a non-sectarian presentation of the Bible, without any particular religious doctrine. Similarly, he felt that political education should stick to the principles agreed on by all, and should avoid any discussion of current political debates. Spring writes: “The combination of moral and political instruction meant that the student leaving the common school would share with fellow students a set of moral and political beliefs; the result would be the creation of a society with a consensus of political and moral values” (81). Mann also felt education was the answer to the problem of social-class conflict. Common school reformer ideology was conservative in its focus on improving the individual as a means of improving society (83). Other supporters of the common school movement were workingmen’s groups. “Common school reformers,” Spring writes, “emphasized education as a mechanism of social control, while the workingmen’s parties emphasized education as a mechanism for gaining political and economic power” (84). Additionally, “the common school reformers emphasized political education as a means of making individuals worthy of democratic rights and as necessary for maintaining political harmony, whereas workingmen’s groups emphasized the necessity of education for the equal sharing of power and the protection of rights” (86). Very different ideologies led both to support the common school movement. In a broader context: Whigs were in favor of government institution and the common school as “the key to an ordered society” (89); whereas Democrats distrusted government interference with schooling and did not support the movement.
[Spring, Joel.The American School From the Puritans to No Child Left Behind . 2008]
Date of Upload
3/13/09