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The Educational Philosophy Of Horace Mann

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The Educational Philosophy Of Horace Mann

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Content This dissertation has been
microfilmed exactly as received 68*7181
FELS, Leonard Abraham, 1911-
THE EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY OF HORACE MANN.
U niversity of Southern C alifornia, Ed.D., 1967
Education, history
University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan
Copyright © by
LEONARD ABRAHAM FELS
1968
THE EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY OF HOP.ACE MANN
A D issertation
P resented to
the Faculty of the School of Education
U niversity of Southern California
In P a rtia l Fulfillm ent
of the Requirem ents for the Degree
Doctor of Education
by
Leonard A braham Fels
Septem ber 1967
This dissertation, written under the direction
of the Chairman of the candidate's Guidance
Committee and approved by all members of the
Committee, has been presented to and accepted
by the Faculty of the School of Education in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of D octor of Education.
Date................ .September.,.. .1.9.67...........................
TABLE OF CONTENTS
C hapter Page
I. INTRODUCTION................................................................................. 1
Statem ent of the P rob lem
Significance of the P roblem
Methodology
Scope and L im itations
Definition of T erm s
A ssum ptions
Hypotheses
O rganization of the R em ainder of the Study
II. A BIOGRAPHICAL O V E R V IE W ............................................. 9
III. SURVEY OF LITERATURE ................................................. 27
D issertations
Books and A rticles
Biographical
Works of C ritic al C h aracter
H istories
H isto ries of Education
IV. METAPHYSICS AND E P IS T E M O L O G Y ............................... 69
G eneral Philosophy
M ann's P erso n al Value Theory
V. SOCIAL PH ILO SO PH Y ............................................................... 88
Ethical Concepts
Rapport with the Laws of Nature
Infinite Im provability of Man
Happiness as a Goal
Political Concepts
Political D em ocracy
Role of L eadership
Social R eform
T reatm ent of the Insane
Slavery
Anti-W ar Attitudes
Economic Concepts
Accumulation of Wealth
Untapped Wealth
P ro p erty Rights
Sum m ary
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
C hapter
VI.
EDUCATIONAL THEORY AND P R A C T IC E ........................
The N ature of the L e a rn e r
Man is a Rational Anim al
N atural C uriosity
E njoym ent and F e a r in L earning
The N ature of Ignorance
The D evelopm ent of Good Habits
The Active L e a rn e r
Sense of S e lf-re sp e c t
Im portance of Language
The O bjectives of Education
D em ocratic T raining
D evelopm ent of the Individual
M oral T raining
H ealth an Objective
The Cultivated Mind
D evelopm ent of L eadership
Extending Human Knowledge
C u rricu lu m Innovations
H ealth Education
M oral Education
M usic Education
C lassro o m M e th o d s--T e ac h e r Q ualification
M otives
Teaching Reading
Spelling and Phonics
The Use of W ords
E x erc ise and R epetition
T ea ch e r T raining
Child Psychology fo r T each ers
A ptness to T each
A dm inistrative Duties
D iscipline and Punishm ent
W omen T each ers
O rganization and A dm inistration of Public Education
School A rch itectu re
F re e Schools
School L ib ra rie s
Additional C onsiderations
G eneral Education
M inim um and M aximum F re e Education
Sum m ary
iii
Page
120
TALBE OF CONTENTS
C hapter Page
VII. SUMMARY AND C O N C L U S IO N S .......................................... 200
S u m m ary
R ecom m endations
C onclusions
B IB L IO G R A P H Y ................................................................................................ 206
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The com m only accepted view of H orace Mann today is that
Mann was p rim a rily a m an of action ra th e r than a philosopher. It has
often been stated that H orace Mann achieved all his g o a ls --a n unlikely
thing to say about anyone. That Mann has not been considered a p hi
losopher is largely due to the fact that he never set his philosophy
fo rth in a single w ork but sc attere d it throughout m any speeches, a r t i
cles, re p o rts, and le tte rs . The period in which H orace Mann lived
was one in which G erm an Idealism was the predom inant philosophical
position. M ann's a ctiv ist p erso n ality was antithetical to this philoso
phy, a philosophy perhaps b est personified by Jo M a rsh 's husband in
Jo 's Boys, a novel by M ann's friend Louisa May Alcott. This "p h i
lo so p h e r's" outstanding c h a ra c te ristic was that he could not r e m e m
b e r an um brella when it rained.
M ann's w ork as law yer, politician, leg islato r, and educator
required him to w rite and speak a great deal. In M ann's lifetim e a
m ajo r m eans of com m unication was public speaking. The m iddle nine
teenth century was a period of sonorous o ra to ry and the w ell-rounded
sentence. M ann's style was no exception. Many of M ann's speeches
2
w ere carefully w ritten in advance, and som e w ere com posed to be r e
peated until all those who needed to h e a r them had h eard.
Mann spoke on the reaso n s for developing the educational s y s
tem of the State of M assachusetts and on the directions in which it
should be developed. He had to convince the citizens that education
was a n ecessity in o rd e r to lead them to support the specific kind of
education which was, at that tim e, just being invented, in no sm all
p a rt, by H orace Mann him self.
Mann never separated his educational philosophy from his s o
cial philosophy o r from his public o r private ethics. It is the object
of this paper to seek out th ese e x p ressio n s and to show, not only that
Mann w as a philosopher, but what kind of a philosopher he was.
It would have been difficult for a m an to achieve as m uch as
H orace Mann did achieve in p ra c tic a l affairs without som e g eneral
th eo re tic al approach. This was p a rtic u la rly tru e in his tim e. His
cam paigns involved him in speaking on new educational developm ents.
In his pioneering work, Mann had to lead a whole people to change
th e ir old views of education to significantly different attitu des. His
speeches and w ritings contain profound statem en ts justifying and e x
plaining the changes for which he was seeking support.
Mann was forced by the p ra c tic a l w ork in which he was involved
to form ulate his proposals both as a critique of the old ways and as
explanations in depth of new paths in education.
"E v er since m en becam e capable of fre e speculation, " states
B ertran d R ussell, "th eir actions, in innum m erable im portant respects;
have depended upon th e ir th eo ries as to the w orld and hum an life, as
3
to what is good and what is evil" (6l:xiv). R u sse ll's statem ent a p
plies, especially, to an a rticu la te intellectual a ctiv ist like Mann.
O ur p re se n t understanding of M ann's role in the developm ent
of fre e public schools can be c la rifie d by isolating the th eo re tic al b a sis
of M ann's thought from the vast bulk of his sc a tte re d w ritings and
sp eech es. By sep aratin g his philosophical ideas from the m a trix of
specific and p rac tic al m a tte rs in which they a re im bedded, we find
m any ideas that a re applicable to c u rre n t pro blem s.
Statem ent of the P roblem
Since H orace Mann did not w rite any w ork stating his e n tire
philosophy, it is n e c e ssa ry to see if it can be found by an alysis of all
the available m a te ria l w ritten by Mann. The b asic problem which
un d erlies this study can be stated as follows: What is H orace M ann's
i
social philosophy, and how was this philosophy reflected in M ann's
educational th eo ries and p ra c tic e s ?
Significance of the P ro blem
It has been generally assu m ed that M ann's contributions to
education a re well-known and understood. This, how ever, ap p ea rs to
be a fallacious assum ption. It does not even apply to all those who
a r e otherw ise w e ll-v e rse d in A m erican h isto ry o r even in the h isto ry
of A m erican education. Often w here M ann's specific contributions
a re well-known, they a re little understood. Many people involved in
the educational p ro c e ss on various levels are only vaguely acquainted
with Mann. T here has been v ery little w ritten about Mann since the
C entennial celebration sponsored by the National Education A s so c ia
4
tion in 1937. No writings appear to exist which analyze Mann's gen
e ra l philosophical point of view. In a sim ilar sense, there is no lit
era tu re which relates his educational philosophy to contem porary
issues in education. What m akes this state of affairs particularly
unfortunate is the fact that Mann spoke and wrote on many m atters
which, while contem porary to his own time, have become m ore o r
less perennial issues in Am erican education at all levels.
It is the thesis of this study that Mann was prim arily an eth i
cal and social philosopher and that to him education was the m eans of
implementing his ethical and social principles. If this hypothesis is
true, as prelim inary examination of the evidence seem s to suggest,
a correction seem s to be required in the traditional conception of
Mann's status in A m erican thought. He is usually viewed as solely
an educator--an "educational statesm an, " "the father of the Am erican
free public school, " and so on.
The key idea of this paper is that Mann's educational activities
stem m ed prim arily from his ethical and social philosophy rather than
the other way around. Some of the social philosophy enunciated by
Mann has now become generally accepted by an im portant group of
A m erican social thinkers, and the educational theories which grew
out of his social philosophy have now become acceptable to a much
wider audience than ever before.
Mann gave clear expression to certain aspects of the "A m eri
can D ream . " Writing in the first half of the nineteenth century,
Mann did much to point up the real significance of both the Declaration
of Independence and the Bill of Rights. It is hoped that a thorough
5
understanding of M ann's"thought can m ake a contribution to a fu lle r
com prehension of various co n tem porary problem s and issu e s in the
a re a of education.
Methodology
Of the m a s s of publications e ith e r w ritten by Mann, his wife,
and son, or w ritten about Mann, only those rele v an t to the purpose of
this study will be used. A d escrip tiv e analysis of both p rim a ry and
secondary so u rc es by topics is covered in the th ird through the sixth
c h ap ters.
Mann's statem ents covering philosophy a re ex tracted fro m his
own work, and w riting fro m other so u rc es is rela te d to M ann's own
statem ents w here it contributes to a fu rth e r understanding of his
philosophical point of view.
Many w rite rs on H orace Mann have e x p re sse d th e ir opinions
and in te rp retatio n s of M ann's philosophy. Some of these approach
M ann's thought antagonistically; o th ers, though ostensibly sy m p a
thetic, give in te rp retatio n s peculiar to th e ir own philosophies.
W here relevant these a re com pared to one ano ther and to M ann's own
statem en ts.
M ann's philosophical statem en ts are com pared with one a n
other and analyzed in te rm s of the usual philosophical c ateg o ries of
consistency, coherence, m eaning and rationality.
Scope and L im itations
This study does not p urport to provide a biography of Mann.
In a certain sense, it is not a psychological o r sociological study.
6
The economic, political, ethical, and idealogical m ilieu in which Mann
!
! m atured and in which he functioned as an adult are only mentioned
1 briefly.
The effect of Mann's thought and activity on the politics of his
tim e, on the educational and cultural developments of his own as well
as subsequent tim es, though interesting (and while often described
contradictorily by differing experts), lies outside our focus. In a
certain respect, the relationship between Mann's social and philo
sophical theories and the conflicting ideas and movements in these
fields today constitute another path, enticing, but not relevant to the
study of his philosophy as such.
Definitions of T erm s
Philosophy. - -The term "philosophy" is used in reference to a
system atic pattern of explanatory principles relating to such funda
m ental problem s as the ultim ate nature of truth, value, and the nature
of the knowledge p ro cess.
Social Philosophy. - -F o r the purposes of this dissertation, the
te rm "social philosophy" is used to denote any set of philosophical
propositions about society or societal relations. The term "societal
relations, " of course, includes politics. A ristotle considered ethics
a branch of politics. Obviously the te rm "education" is also included
under the term "societal relations. " In Horace Mann's day, the g e
neric term , including the various sets of philosophical propositions
under the above te rm s, would be "ethics. " In this study, "social" is
the generic te rm which includes "politics, " "ethics, " and "education. "
7
Assumptions
In this dissertation, three assum ptions are made.
F irs t, the topic m e rits consideration. Mann's ideas a re im
portant.
Second, there is sufficient m aterial available for an adequate
1 study.
Third, there is a c lear and identifiable relationship between
Mann's social philosophy and his educational p ractices.
Hypotheses
The m ajor hypothesis which underlies this study is that Horace
Mann was fundamentally a social philosopher and that he regarded all
of his work in the field of education as a way to achieve certain spe
c ific social goals. It is a corollary contention of this study that the
relationship between M ann's social philosophy and his educational a c
tivities has not been evaluated co rrectly and that a re-evaluation is in
ord er.
Organization of the
Rem ainder of the Study
This d issertatio n is organized in the following m anner:
The introductory section provides an overview of M ann's life
and accom plishm ents. The following chapter is concerned with a r e
view of the lite ra tu re. The salient literatu re is divided into two gen
e ra l categories: (1) dissertatio n s, (2) books and a rtic le s.
The rem ainder of the study is concerned with two m ajor a reas:
(1) Mann's philosophy, both general and social, (2) his educational
theories and practices as these relate to his overall philosophical
8
position.
The study term inates with a final chapter which focuses on a
general sum m ary and a se ries of final conclusions.
CHAPTER II
A BIOGRAPHICAL OVERVIEW
H orace Mann was born on May 4, 1796 in Franklin,
M assachusetts, while George Washington was still P resid ent of the
United States. Mann's life spanned the turbulent early years of this
country's history. He died on August 2, 1859, two y e a rs before the
Civil W ar began.
E xtrem e poverty and life on the farm allowed him no childhood,
and his poor health throughout life was attributed to the hard labo r he
perform ed as a child. He considered that the work habits developed
during childhood made w ork come naturally to him as an adult, but he
always reg re tte d his childhood lack of recreation and the fact that he
had had so little time to follow his in terests in poetry, a rt and m usic
(45:VI:10-11).
Until the age of fifteen, he had never been to school m ore than
eight or ten weeks in a year. Though his fam ily had few books and
lacked the m eans to provide the educational opportunities he keenly
wanted, Horace Mann attem pted to satisfy his eager d e sire for books
through the town lib rary . The lib ra ry was a gift to the town from
Benjamin Franklin in acknowledgement of the compliment of naming
10
the town after him. The books w ere m ainly histories and trea tise s
on theology. They were hardly fare for a youngster, but Mann read
all of them. He felt this experience keenly, and la te r recognized its
role in helping him to develop a pro gram for school lib ra rie s special
ly designed for children.
The story is told by Mann and others that an itinerant teacher
cam e to Franklin. He is known for certain only as M aster B arrett.
(Louise Thorpe says he may have been either Samuel, John or Thomas
h u t m ost likely was Thomas as a Thomas B a rre tt was known to have
conducted c lasses only a m ile from Horace Mann's home. ) M aster
B a rre tt's p rices were very reasonable. He was so im pressed with
H orace M ann's abilities that he helped him prepare for college
(66:30;66:324).
At the age of twenty, with the help of this fine tutor, Mann
learned enough in six months to p erm it him to enter the Sophomore
class of Brown University in Septem ber 1816. Three years la te r he
was graduated with highest honors from Brown. He tutored in both
Latin and G reek and acted as lib rarian at Brown from 1820 to 1822.
He then entered the law school conducted by Judge Jam es Gould at
Litchfield, Connecticut, the m ost famous law school in New England
at the tim e. In Decem ber of 1823, he was admitted to the bar at
Norfolk, M assachusetts. He opened his law office in Dedham.
Mann was a very successful law yer. Until 1833 he practiced
in Dedham, and then moved to Boston where he becam e one of the
city 's m ost respected law yers. He was Dedham's representative in
the M assachusetts House of R epresentatives from 1827 to 1833. After
11
moving to Boston, he served in the State Senate from 1834 to 1837.
He was President of the State Senate when he resigned to take the
position of S ecretary to the newly created State Board of Education on
July 1, 1837.
Mann was one of the M assachusetts intellectuals who brought
th e ir well-developed New England consciences to b e ar on the flaws in
th e ir society. These people w ere characterized by a high degree of
intellectualism combined with an energetic activism . (The three
g rea t figures of A m erican philosophy came from this background,
Jam es, Dewey and P e ir c e .)
Some of the irrita n ts to the New England conscience of this
period w ere the inhumane treatm ent of the insane, the deaf and blind
(as well as prisoners), the plight of the slaves in the South, the edu
cation of women and the plight of children in a rapidly industrializing
society. They w ere also concerned with the acculturation of the
im m igrants pouring into the United States from Europe. They rec o g
nized that the dem ocracy could not continue unless children w ere
educated, im m igrants integrated and slaves and women freed.
In the atm osphere created by old New England Calvinism ,
these problem s could not be solved. Calvinism no longer played a
constructive role in a society where an atm osphere of optim ism and
tru s t of your fellow man was alm ost a necessity. Industrial and
com m ercial development could not take place without the confidence
built on faith in people and in the future. C apitalism is built on credit,
and credit is built on faith and optim ism .
What was it in Calvinism that had to go?
12
A fundam ental tenet of C alvinism is that m en a re inherently
evil. F ro m this principle followed b ru tal trea tm e n t of children, of
the helpless, blind and oth ers, of crim in als, of all kinds of " in fe ri
o rs. " A sense of hopelessness imbued the society which held this, as
a basic p rem ise . Man was inherently evil and he could not be r e
form ed.
Calvinism was a philosophy of a static society w here e v e ry
body had a place and stayed in it. Each p e rso n 's place was p r e
ordained by God. The rapidly changing econom ic and social condi
tions of the e arly nineteenth century disproved this sort of d e te rm in
ism every day.
In the period of Horace M ann's young manhood U nitarianism
was replacing C alvinism in New England. U nitarianism took the stand
that m en w ere fundam entally good, that God was not vindictive or
capricious and that norm al natural p ro c e sse s w ere discoverable by
m en, who could be certain that God would not in te rfere with these
p ro c e sse s. T herefore m en could discover natural laws and knowledge
would stand. This m eant that m en could tru s t one another, because
m en w ere good. They could also tru s t th eir own analysis of what was
going on in the world, because no a rb itra ry power was going to change
it. They rejected the possibility of m ira c le s, they rejected the idea
that m en are born to a social position, and they rejected divine r e t r i
bution.
The basic assum ptions of a whole society w ere being changed
and Mann took p a rt in making the change.
With the fro n tier open in front of them , new inventions of the
13
industrial revolution at hand, and the great natural reso u rce s of the
Continent available, peoples' eyes w ere opened to the possibilities of
a m uch im proved life for all human beings.
The underlying social philosophy of the Colonial period now
appeared inadequate, negative and p essim istic. The breakaw ay
started during the eighteenth century, continued through the Revolu
tion, and was now culminating in the New England Unitarian Revolt
against Calvinism as well as in E m erso n 's transcendentalism and any
num ber of hum anitarian and equalitarian m ovem ents of the day.
It m ust be understood that Calvinism infused the legal s tru c
tu re of the State of M assachusetts. It im plicitly justified the cruelty
to the insane, the poor, the crippled of all kinds and, w orst of all, to
children, which was cu rren t at the tim e Horace Mann entered public
life.
Horace Mann realized that the laws of the state could not be
changed except by changing the philosophy in the minds of the people.
It was th eir philosophy which was embodied in the laws. In his
speeches on childhood and the rights of children he forced the citizens
of M assachusetts to com pletely revise th eir philosophy of child life.
In o rd e r to do this Horace Mann practically invented child psychology
as we know it. He gave the firs t rational rebuttal to the old m axim
"Spare the rod and spoil the child. " Horace Mann, who never forgot
his m iserab le childhood, was a living proof that in nineteenth century
A m erica the w ildest dream s of any optim ist m ight be achieved.
In 1830, Mann m a rrie d Charlotte M esser the daughter of Asa
M esser the p resident of Brown University. This happy m arriag e
14
lasted only two y e ars. C harlotte died, probably of tu b ercu lo sis, in
1832, (as did M ann's son m any y ears la te r, following a trip with
Thoreau, who was also a victim of tu b e rc u lo s is .) Shortly a fte r this
Mann moved to Boston.
Mann was keenly aw are of the need for hygenic living. He
thought serio u sly of ways to build up health and recognized th at living
and working conditions contributed to e a rly death and p erso n al tr a g
edy. To the C alvinists, ill health was punishm ent fro m a vindictive
God. Horace Mann rejected this philosophy. He thought of ill health
as punishm ent for disobeying the laws of nature. The two ideas are
of course diam etrically opposed. You cannot do anything about the
vengeance of God, but the optim istic Mann believed you could do som e
thing about health if you knew the laws of physiology.
While he was a m em b er of the M assach u setts State L eg isla
ture Mann consistently supported hum anitarian legislation. The firs t
State lunatic hospital in the United States fo r the hum ane trea tm e n t of
the insane was established m ainly through his efforts. He not only
secured the passage of the law but was so interested in the project
that he followed the building and staffing of the hospital as w ell as the
resu lts of the various trea tm e n ts with an intense personal in te rest.
Mann was a so rt of com m ittee of one to see that the hospital func
tioned. It was his special concern while he was in the L egislature
and for many y e a rs afterw ards.
Mann was a personal friend and supporter of Dorothy Dix, the
pioneer for humane treatm en t of the insane, as well as of D r. Samuel
B. Woodward, who becam e d ire c to r of the State Hospital for the
15
Insane, and D r. Samuel G. Howe, the fam ous educator of the blind.
Mann had trem endous em pathy for other people. He had unusual
capacity to put h im self in the place of others and the ability to convey
what he felt as a re s u lt of his em pathy. This gave him his am azing
insights into attitudes of children as well as into the problem s of
deaf, blind and others in difficult situations.
Of all the creative social m ovem ents in which Mann was in
volved, the im provem ent of public education was the m ost appealing
to him. His experiences in the law courts had taught him that in
c re a se d num bers of laws and courts w ere not preventing the in crease
of c rim e. He thought of public education as a m eans by which c h a r
a c te r could be c o rre c tly shaped and crim e prevented. He also
thought of public education as a m eans by which a b e tte r life could be
achieved on a m uch w ider scale than was enjoyed at that tim e. He
believed too that cruelty and sordidness could be abated for everyone
if children w ere not conditioned tow ard them at what he always r e
fe rre d to as a "tender age. " It is h ard for us to rea liz e that before
Horace Mann, children w ere not reg a rd ed as "tender, " or innocent.
As P re sid e n t of the State Senate, he helped Jam es G. C a rte r
pass the bill in A pril, 1837, which created the f ir s t State B oard of
Education in A m erica. G overnor E v erett appointed Mann as a m e m
b e r of the f irs t B oard. Edmond Dwight, as spokesm an for the Board,
urged Mann to accept the post of S ecretary . On June 30, 1837, Mann
sent his acceptance to Dwight.
Mann, at the age of forty-one, changed his c a re e r. He was
launched on the task which brought him g rea t success and w orld-w ide
16
recognition. His e n tire c a re e r up to this point served as a p r e p a r a
tion for his w ork in the field of education. H ere Mann showed h im self
as a creativ e social philosopher. In his Twelve Annual R eports to the
State B oard of Education and in the Common School Jo u rn a l, which
Mann c reated and edited fo r 11 y e a rs, he voiced his p rac tic al su g g e s
tions and his th eo retical explanations for all the m ajo r innovations he
w as able to introduce into the State sy stem of public education in
Mas sa c h u se tts.
It was during the 12 y e a rs, 1837-1848, that Mann was s e c r e
ta ry of the B oard that he gave his fam ous seven lec tu re s on education
which advanced his ideas on p a rtic u la r aspects of building the com m on
schools as an in stru m en t for the m aintenance and extension of d e m o c
rac y . Mann had to overcom e public apathy and m isunderstanding; he
had to battle se c ta ria n ism in religion and the lac k of understanding on
the p a rt of the ow ners of the developing in d u stries in New England; he
had to contend with p rovincialism and a n ti-in te lle ctu alism in the sm all
school d is tric ts of the state. Mann had to p ersu ad e the local B oards
of Education of the State of M assachusetts to accept the guidance of
the B oard. The State Board had no re a l power to begin with. This
m eant that Mann had to educate the local B oards of Education.
F o r five of his y e a rs as s e c re ta ry to the Board he trav elled
every y e a r, visiting every a re a in the state. It was during these
y e a rs that he d elivered his firs t five lec tu re s on education. He also
used the Com mon School Journal to educate the public about schools.
B efore the establishm ent of the State B oard and M ann's s e c r e
tary sh ip th e re w ere no re c o rd s of school attendance, hours, costs,
17
length of school y ear. T here was literally no way of knowing what
was happening in the schools of the state. Mann invented rep o rt
sheets which covered daily, monthly and yearly rec o rd s of school
attendance, costs, courses of study, books used and so on. The
State Board very quickly began to get a picture of M assach u setts’
education. In som e cases it took all of M ann's persuasive power and
political influence to gather these sta tistics. Cooperation was hard
won.
Mann brought an a ll-o v e r philosophical approach to the p ro b
lem s of his job. Not all politicians find out "what is" before they
sta rt talking about "what ought to be. " Mann understood the intim ate
relationship between the facts and the goals and he understood what
had to be done to achieve these goals. In term s of goals, Mann found
g reat need for the renovation of school buildings and school lib ra rie s
as well as for some standardization in texts and curriculum , and so
forth. He undertook cam paigns for these, developing the leadership
of the State Board. He was able to develop a broad base of public
support throughout the state for m ost of his program m atic sugges
tions during his 12 y ears with the Board.
One im portant event in this period was the establishm ent of
the firs t state norm al school in the United States at Lexington,
M assachusetts in 1839. This was followed soon by the founding of
two m ore norm al schools. Mann was the key person in the campaign
to ra ise the money, to pass the laws, secure the locations, establish
the curriculum , and hire the d irec to rs of these schools. He led the
campaign to ra ise the qualifications of tea ch e rs. He secured the
18
adoption of state-w ide standards for the certification of teach ers.
Through the norm al schools he developed the firs t instrum ents of
higher education which w ere used to b etter qualify women for te a c h
ing. During this entire period, Mann worked to m ake teaching a p ro
fession and to m ake it a profession open to women.
Another extrem ely im portant event in M ann's life during this
period was his m a rria g e to M ary Peabody in 1843. M ary was one of
the famous Peabody sis te rs of Boston. The youngest siste r, Sophia,
m a rrie d Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1842. Elizabeth, the oldest siste r,
was an accom plished w rite r and the owner of a unique and well-
known bookshop in Boston which she had opened in 1840. Elizabeth
is often given credit for "having discovered" Hawthorne and later
becam e his publisher. M ary had opened a private school for sm all
children in the fam ily home. She was also a w riter and a rtis t and
published some children's books.
M ary and Horace Mann went to Europe on th eir honeymoon.
They w ere accom panied, for a good p a rt of the trip , by another
couple who w ere also on a honeymoon and who w ere close friends:
Dr. Samuel Howe and his beautiful bride, Julia W ard Howe. This
was the fam ous trip to Europe which Mann wrote about in his contro-
v e rsial Seventh Annual R eport. In this report, Mann described the
organization and methods of teaching in the best of the European
schools.
Mann made extensive visits to schools in Scotland, England,
F rance, Sw itzerland, P ru ssia and Saxony. In some of these schools
he felt that he found confirm ation of the value of some of the pedagog-
ical ideas he had advocated. He also learned of other m ethods he
thought could well be copied by the M assachusetts schools. Mann was
open to any new ideas and m ethods in education. He was always in
the p ro cess of looking at these ideas fro m the point of view of evalua
ting them for possible use in the com m on schools of M assachusetts.
To this end he p raised some of the things he saw in the c la ssro o m s of
Scotland and P ru ssia . When his R eport cam e out, he was im m e d ia te
ly attacked by a group of sch o o lm asters from Boston. They d is
agreed with his recom m endations in the a re a of pedagogy, with his
tem pered rejection of physical punishm ent, and with his opposition to
the teaching of se cta ria n religion in the schools. They extended th e ir
attack to a personal attack on Mann.
Mann answ ered the attack in kind, and a g re a t argum ent took
place. Many prom inent m en in M assachusetts took sides in the a rg u
ment. Mann won g reat popular support for his position. This was
probably his m ost im portant victory over those opposed to the d evel
opment of the free common schools according to the guidelines laid
down by H orace Mann and the State B oard of Education.
In F e b ru ary 1848, John Quincy Adams died. Mann was asked
by m ost of the political lea d ers in the d istric t to take A dam s' place
in C ongress. This was probably the g re a te st political honor that
could be accorded a m an in M assachu setts at the tim e . John Quincy
Adams was re fe rre d to with awe and rev eren ce as "The P re sid e n t"
by the people of M assach usetts. He had c arried on a s a m ajo r n a
tional lea d er of the a n ti-sla v e ry forces in the House of R e p re se n ta
tives a fte r leaving the P residency. That Mann was swept into Con
20
g re s s to replace Adam s, on the la tte r 's death, was an honor Mann
could sc arc ely reje ct. F u rth e rm o re , Mann was in terested in attem pt
ing to accom plish on a national basis what he had been able to do for
the com m on schools in M assachusetts. So Mann went to C ongress.
He was not im m ediately replaced as S ecretary of the State
B oard, although he subm itted his resignation. He w rote his Twelfth
Annual R eport and his last a rticle for the Common School Journal in
1849, while serving in C ongress. In the Spring of his firs t y ear in
C ongress, Mann becam e involved as attorney fo r the defense in the
sp ectacu lar D rayton-S ayres case. Drayton and Sayres w ere the m a s
t e r and owner of the sloop, The P e a rl, which had been used in an
attem pt to take a num ber of N egroes from Washington, D. C . , to free
te rr ito r y . Some of the Negroes w ere freem en, some w ere not. But
in those days anyone who attem pted, with secrecy, to tra n sp o rt N e
gro es out of slave te r rito r y was suspect. They were not able to get
to free te r r ito r y before they w ere caught by an arm ed posse which
had been organized on the basis of inform ation given by the Negro cab
d riv e r who had c a rrie d som e of the Negroes to the w harf w here The
P e a rl was waiting for them .
Drayton and Sayres w ere jailed, and trie d separately. T here
was g rea t excitem ent in Washington. Mann was urged by his friends,
like Sam uel Howe and C harles Sum ner, to undertake the defense of
D rayton and S ayres. He did this in spite of the fact that this was a
dangerous thing to do. During the tria ls , Mann was openly threatened.
It was difficult to get a fair tria l with the local new spapers and the
judge obviously worked up over the m atter. Mann, with the help of a
21
local attorney, conducted a brilliant defense. His m ain efforts went
to save Drayton and Sayres from death and to keep the jail sentences
to reasonable lengths. He got the penalties reduced to fines. Neither
Drayton nor Sayres had the money to pay their fines, and the N orthern
abolitionists w ere never able to pay them . They had to rem ain in jail,
fines unpaid, until after F illm ore was elected. They then received a
P resid en tial pardon.
The tria l of Drayton and Sayres and th eir im prisonm ent had
becom e a nationwide political issue. Mann had won a very im portant
victory, but he never received his fee. In fact, during the tria l, he
lost his "per diem " pay from the House, and the tria l had actually
cost him money which he could not afford. Only with difficulty did
D r. Howe finally get the Com m ittee for the Defense of Drayton and
Sayres to pay M ann's expenses.
The D rayton-Sayres case gave Mann such a reputation as an
a n ti-slav e ry protagonist, that he lost any possibility of doing a nation
al job in education. Mann had to give up any hope of ever becoming a
S ecretary of Education in a P residential Cabinet. F u rth er, the ex
citem ent caused by the D rayton-Sayres case was used to aid the p ro
slavery group in C ongress to help pass the Fugitive Slave Law. Mann
opposed the Fugitive Slave Law, and it was in this battle that he
clashed with Daniel W ebster. Mann accused W ebster of selling out
the in terests of the people of the North in an attem pt to gain Southern
support in his bid for the Presidency. W ebster, who controlled the
Whig party in M assachusetts, attacked Mann in speeches and a rtic le s.
The battle grew to the point that W ebster made certain that Mann was
22
not renom inated by the Whig party in his congressional d istric t. Mann
ran as a nominee of the sm all a n ti-sla v e ry F ree-S o il P a rty and e x
pected to be defeated. But the people of his d istric t returned him to
C ongress in 1850 by a large m ajority, m uch to the su rp rise of the
Whig lead ers.
Mann served in C ongress until M arch of 1853. In the m ean
tim e he had accepted the presidency of the Antioch College in Septem
b e r of 1852. Mann was so disgusted with the open corruption in Con
g re ss that he had a great d esire to re tu rn to the field of education.
Antioch College sounded like a g rea t challenge to Mann in the a re a of
higher education. And education was for Mann the instrum ent by
which social change was to be brought about.
During his short four y e ar C ongressional c a re e r Mann made
some of the m ost im portant a n ti-slav e ry speeches ever made in Con
g re s s. While still in C ongress, but refusing to run for re-election,
Mann did perm it the F ree-S o il P a rty to nominate him for Governor of
M assachusetts. He stated before the cam paign that he felt it was a
lost cause, and he only campaigned because he felt the obligation to
his staunch friends and political su p p o rte rs. He had already made
plans to go to Antioch as soon as possible.
After losing the election, Mann sta rte d the serious organiza
tion work n e ce ssa ry to open Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio,
in 1853. M ann's work at Antioch College was a continuation of his
work in the field of public education in M assachusetts. Antioch Col
lege welcomed Negro students. It was the firs t college in the United
States which accepted women in the sam e academ ic program as men.
23
It was firs t, also, in placing women on the faculty.
While at Antioch, Mann made a num ber of very im portant
speeches. H ere he delivered th ree baccalaureate a d d re sses, his
fam ous "Twelve Serm ons, " and his "D edicatory and Inaugural A d
d re s s . " In these speeches and others Mann e x p resses once again his
social philosophy and the general educational views which he feels a re
p a rt of his overall philosophical position.
While at Antioch, Mann taught political economy, natural th e
ology and intellectual and m o ral philosophy. The speeches and a r t i
cles w ritten during this period indicate that his life was "of a piece. "
All of M ann's actions indicated that, throughout his life, he w as guided,
by a set of ideas and ideals which w ere fundam entally the sam e from
the tim e he delivered his valedictory ad d ress at Brown U niversity,
devoted to the idea that the human race is infinitely im provable, to
the last ad d re ss of his life, given to the students at Antioch College.
This la tte r he ends with the fam ous injunction: "Be asham ed to die
until you have won some victory for humanity" (44:575).
M ann's life story gives one the im pression that he could have
been em inently successful in any a re a he wished to work. He was a
very successful law yer and an extrem ely able politician and leg islato r.
His abilities w ere recognized by his colleagues who elected him to the
presidency of the State Senate when he was thirty-nine y ears old. His
political future was assu re d . He could probably have been Governor,
and one can only speculate on higher possibilities, if he had stayed in
politics. His abilities in the law w ere also appreciated by his fellow
leg islato rs. F o r instance, Mann headed the legislative com m ittee
' *
24
which rev ised and recodified the law s of the State of M a ssach u setts.
The newly c re a te d position of S e c re ta ry of the State B oard of
Education c a rrie d a low sa la ry ; Mann took m o re than a 50 p e r cent cut
in incom e im m ediately. He w as allowed no tra v e l allow ance. The po
sition also c a rrie d no p re stig e . Its potential was unknown. Mann,
taking it against the advice of som e of his frien d s, rea liz ed he would
be cutting his political c a r e e r sh o rt. He fu rth e r re a liz e d that it would
be his resp o n sib ility to develop the fo rm and content of the position.
In this, he was so su ccessfu l that m o st other states attem pted to p a t
te rn th e ir key state education office on the im age set in M assach u setts.
If H insdale, one of M ann's leading b io g rap h e rs, is c o rre c t in
stating that Mann w as fundam entally a m an of action and not a p h ilo so
pher, one w onders how to explain M ann's action in going from a s u c
cessful c a r e e r in politics to the c a r e e r in education with its unknown
future. It would se em that a m an of action would find his satisfactions
m o re in the field of politics than in education. This would se em p a r
tic u la rly tru e if one w ere su ccessfu l in the f ir s t and faced the unknown
p o ssib ilities of failu re in the second. It would se em that the v ery act
of moving from politics to education was an indication that Mann had a
th eo re tic al approach, as w ell as a se t of ideals and ideas, which w ere
im portant guides to his action.
At the tim e he m ade the decision to becom e S e c re ta ry of the
State B oard, Mann explained the action in te rm s which re la te it to a
consciously held set of beliefs on his p a rt. F u rth e r, once he m ade the
decision, he was c e rta in he had done the right thing. And this, too, is
an indication that he had a consciously held social and ethical p h ilo so
phy.
25
In looking at A m erican h isto ry in the second q u a rte r of the
nineteenth century one w onders why it is difficult to point to a f ir s t
rate thinker of the stature of C._S. P e irc e , W illiam Jam es o r John
Dewey. F ro m our usual view of the Jacksonian e ra , th ere a re alm ost
no other contenders than, perhaps, E m erson. This was certainly the
tim e of the upsurge of an ti-in tellectualism , the tim e of increased
te rr ito ria l and econom ic expansion, the tim e of the activist. Though
it was also the period when the old colonial ideas w ere finally being
consciously form ulated. Most thinkers, as such, w ere pushed into
the background. The activists w ere elevated to the im portant p o si
tions in the various a re a s of endeavor. A m ericans of that tim e, had
little confidence in th e ir own intellectual m aturity. They looked to
Europe and especially to G erm any for intellectual guidance--that is,
if they looked foiTsuch guidance at all!
These various facto rs m ight account for the fact that the in te l
lectual contributions which Mann had to offer w ere overlooked. Most
w rite rs on Mann have recognized his g reat p rac tic al su ccesses in the
field of education. Few, if any, have recognized his contributions to
social philosophy, which set M ann's own guidelines in all his actions.
Another reason, of course, that M ann's philosophic contributions m ay
have been overlooked, is that these a re scattered through lectu res
and serm o n s and rep o rts and cannot be found in one place.
It should also be pointed out that, because M ann's practical
su ccesses w ere originally in the field of p rim a ry and secondary edu
cation, the a re a of the common school, he was rubricized as an "edu
cationist. " The w ide-spread snobbery tow ards "educationists" has
26
tended to preclude the idea that theoretical contributions m ight come
from someone of the stature of Horace Mann. Most philosophers and
historians, in the past, have participated in this sort of snobbery.
F o r a multitude of reasons there has never been an attem pt to
understand and restate Mann's contributions to philosophy. That there
is such a contribution to be found behind his uncongenial lite ra ry and
oratorical style seem s clear. Horace M ann's place in the history of
A m erican thought requires further reassessm en t, not to honor him
posthumously, but to discover whether he offers something which could
be of value to us today.
CHAPTER III
SURVEY OF LITERATURE
T here is a vast lite ra tu re on H orace Mann. Most of this deals
with his work as an educator. W hatever seem ed relevant to this
study is sum m arized in this chapter. The firs t section covers th ree
d isse rtatio n s done on Mann. The next two sections discuss two o v e r
lapping c la sse s of lite ra tu re: (1) biographical and (2) c ritic a l and
evaluative.
This classification of M ann's w ork is adm ittedly artificial.
All those studies found in the firs t category contain som e evaluations
of M ann's work. All those in the second category include biographi
cal m ateria l.
D issertation s
Only th ree doctoral d isse rtatio n s could be found on H orace
Mann in a survey going back to 1920. One of these re la te s d irectly to
this study. The other two a re of p erip h e ral in te re st only.
The m ost recent of these d issertatio n s is "H orace Mann: The
E arly Y ears 1796-1837" by Jonathan M esserli. This was com pleted
at H arvard in 1963. In this d issertatio n M ann's developm ent is trac ed
27
28
from childhood to 1837, the y e a r he becam e S e c re ta ry of the M a ssa
chusetts B oard of Education. The author has com piled a g re a t m any
very in terestin g facts about M ann's e a rly life and the conditions in
which he m atu red . M e sse rli does not discu ss M ann's m a jo r work,
a ll of which cam e a fte r 1837, and this d isse rta tio n is not d irec tly g e r
m ane to the p re se n t study.
The next m ost recen t d octoral d isse rta tio n which is about
H orace Mann is titled "The C ontributions of H orace Mann, M ary
Peabody Mann, and E lizabeth Peabody to A rt Education in the United
States. " T his study by R obert Jam es Saunders was com pleted at The
Pennsylvania State U niversity in 1961. It in te rp re ts the educational
th eo ries of Mann and the two Peabody s is te rs as they rela te to the
field of a rt education. The author concludes that Mann was so in te r
ested in the value of education in building an in d u stria l econom y that
he thought of a rt as superfluous. Saunders feels th at Mann m ade no
contribution to the developm ent of a r t education. On the o ther hand,
Saunders say s, M ary Peabody Mann and E lizabeth Peabody both m ade
significant contributions to the developm ent of the field of a r t ed u ca
tion. Except in a ra th e r negative and distant way, this d isse rta tio n
is not rela te d to the cen tral pro b lem of the p re se n t study.
The third doctoral d isse rta tio n is "H orace Mann and Religion
in the M assachusetts Public Schools" by Raymond B. C ulver. This
study was done in Yale G raduate School in 1929. It was published as
a book with the sam e title that y e a r. Since it is a w ork of c ritic a l
in te re s t it w ill be discussed la te r.
Books and A rticles
B iographical
T h ere have been only a few full length biographies w ritten on
H orace Mann. The fir s t is M ary M ann's five volume Life and W orks
of H orace Mann.
Volume I, The Life of H orace Mann, by His W ife, was o rig i
nally published in 1865. It was republished, in facsim ile edition, by
the National Education A ssociation in 1937 as p a rt of the Centennial
C elebration of H orace M ann's becom ing the fir s t S e c re ta ry of the
State B oard of Education of M assach u setts.
In Volume 1, M ary Mann attem p ts to give a biography of h e r
husband using his own w ords as m uch as possible. She th e re fo re r e
p rin ts m any of H orace M ann's le tte rs which give his opinions on all
the various problem s he faced throughout his life.
Volume 2 was f ir s t published in 1866 and Volume 3 in 1867.
The en tire five volume edition was published in 1891. Though M ary
Mann did the original e d ito rial job, the task of editing the second e d i
tion, which w as expanded to five volum es, was handled by George
Combe Mann, H orace M ann's second son.
Volume 2 contains the P ro sp ec tu s of the Com m on School
Journal; L ec tu re s on E ducation; Annual R eports for 1837 and 1838.
Volume 3 contains the Annual R eports for 1839 through 1844.
Volume 4 contains the Annual R eports for 1845-1848 and the
F o u rth of July O ration delivered in Boston 1842.
Volume 5 contains contributions to the Com mon School Journal
and a d d re sse s of Mann as the p resid en t of Antioch C ollege. The
29
30
Appendix has a review of H orace M ann's w o rks and w ritings by F elix
P ecaut.
The five volum es have becom e m a jo r so u rce books of original
Mann m a te ria l. Louis F ille r and L aw rence C re m in both took m o st of
th e ir re p rin ts of M ann's w ritings fro m this so u rc e . Joy E lm e r M o r
gan found th em an invaluable source of o riginal m a te ria l. Of c o u rse,
since they w ere published, m uch original Mann m a te ria l has been
published se p ara tely , though F ille r 's book contains the only su b sta n
tia l re p rin ts of o riginal Mann m a te ria l since the 1937 C entennial E d i
tions of the Twelve Annual R eports and Joy E lm e r M organ's H orace
Mann at A ntioch.
A fter M ary M ann's w ork the m ost influential biography on
H orace Mann w as B. A. H insdale's H orace Mann and the Com m on
School Revival which w as originally published in 1898. T his book was
also re p rin te d in a fac sim ile edition by the N ational Education A s s o
ciation in 1937. T h ere w ere th ree other b io g rap h ies of Mann pub
lished betw een 1893 and 1910. None of th ese w ill be review ed h e re ,
as they add nothing to our knowledge of H orace Mann.
Until 1937, when H orace Mann: E ducational S tatesm an by E.
I. F. W illiam s was published, th e re was no o th er m a jo r biographical
w ork done on Mann. The only m a jo r biography of Mann published
since 1937 is Until V ictory, H orace Mann and M ary Peabody, by
Louise H all T harp. T his biography was published in 1953 and is a
follow -up volume to The Peabody S isters of Salem by the sam e author.
M ary M ann's life of her husband is sta te ly and c la s s ic a l in
feeling. Reading it, one seem s to feel the b a sic inner fo rc e s m oving
31
Mann throughout his life. Louise T harp, on the o th er hand, gives one
a p ictu re of the buoyancy, joyful exhuberance, wit, c h arm and t r e
m endous energy of H orace Mann. Incidents give one a sh a rp view of
M ann's c h a ra c te r. It is by fa r the best biography in showing M ann's
p erso n ality .
Both Hinsdale and W illiam s have w ritten biographies which
a re detailed accounts and evaluations of M ann's accom plishm ents.
Since both these authors w ere ed u cato rs, they em phasize M ann's
w ork in the field of education.
W illiam s' em phasis is m o re that of a social h isto rian . This
w ork is a study in depth of M ann’s involvem ent in the m om entous
changes which w ere occuring in the A m erica of his tim e. W illiam s
gives a concise statem ent of M ann's specific accom plishm ents in
education. Since he was w riting in 1937, he was b e tte r able to e v a l
uate M ann's wide influence in the other states and throughout the
w orld th at Hinsdale was able to do in 1898. W illiam s felt that Mann
was one of the g re a t m en in A m erican h isto ry . He considered M ann's
accom plishm ents to be those of an educational sta te sm an . What
Mann accom plished could have been done only be a m an of very u n
usual ab ilities and p erso n ality . W illiam s says Mann is, without
doubt, the outstanding educator produced in this Continent.
H insdale, on the other hand, m akes a different evaluation of
Mann. It is ex trem ely im p o rtan t to understand H insdale, because
this w ork becam e the authoritative biography, which set the tone for
la te r opinions of Mann. T h ere have been som e who have gone beyond
H insdale's influence on evaluating H orace Mann, like W illiam s, Joy
32
E lm er Morgan and Lawrence Crem in. But even with these men,
H insdale's point of view has had some influence in that it had set the
thinking on the subject of Mann for a num ber of generations of educa
tional historians and philosophers.
Hinsdale takes the point of view that "in 1837 M assachusetts
was in no mood for a m ere thinker in the Secretaryship of the Board
of Education" (21:266). Hinsdale further says Mann was a "m an of
action and not a philosopher" (21:271). Since the Board of Education
needed a "man of action" and not a "m ere thinker, " and since they
had hired Mann, he m ust have fitted into these categories. But
Hinsdale is here attem pting to make reality fit into the categories he
has set for it.
Hinsdale is saying that if M r. Mann had been a philosopher,
he would have to have been a "m ere thinker" and not "devoted to the
practical and the useful" (21:266). And, of course, if he had been a
"m ere thinker, " he would never have been hired as S ecretary to the
Board. Hinsdale is here reflecting the typical view of his tim e which
held that anyone who was a philosopher could not be a "man of action."
He wrote this biography when the popularity of absolute idealism was
at its peak in A m erican academ ic c irc le s. P ragm atism and the new
realism , as philosophies, w ere just being born. P eirce had been
writing a great deal but had not been getting published in the academ ic
m agazines. Jam es was yet to give his lectures on pragm atism .
Dewey was in the process of showing the influence of Darwin on phi
losophy and developing his instrum entalism . The philosopher was
typified by the speculative academ ician whose best A m erican re p re
33
sentative was Josiah Royce. The nineteenth century G erm an id ealists
like Hegel, Fichte, S chiller and Schopenhauer w ere considered the
m odels of what a philosopher should be. Since Mann did not fo rm u
late a cohesive body of speculative philosophic propositions, he was
judged to be a m an of action and not a philosopher.
But from our m odern point of view, with the developm ents in
philosophy since the turn of the century behind us, it would be in c o r
re c t to define a philosopher as a thinker who was not a m an of action.
A philosopher, from the p ra g m a tist's o r the new re a lis ts ' point of
view, could certain ly be a thinker and a m an of action as well. It is
not the contention of this paper that H orace Mann was a "m ere
thinker. " But it is the contention of this study that he was not a m ere
"m an of action. "
Hinsdale assu m es that all of M ann's statem ents on m o ral,
social o r educational problem s a re p rescrip tio n s for action. Mann,
according to Hinsdale, was never involved in th eo retical d iscussion s.
M ann's w ritings "show no tra c e of speculative talen ts" (21:266).
Hinsdale could not fit Mann into his stereotype of a ph iloso
pher. H insdale's concept was typical of the end of the nineteenth
century. Many la te r w rite rs accepted H insdale's evaluation of Mann.
They failed to evaluate Hinsdale. They also failed to evaluate M ann's
own w riting for itself, placing it in its intellectual and h isto ric a l m i
lieu.
Hinsdale says that "M ann's m o ral nature dominated his intel
lect so com pletely as to intensify its defects" (21:268). He never te lls
us d irectly what he m eans by "defects" h e re . He does say that Mann
34
was devoted to the truth, and "his sense of duty, his unselfishness,
his benevolence w ere very m arked" (21:268). Mann was an individual
of great "m oral earnestness. " Somehow, according to Hinsdale, this
distorted his intellect in such a way that whatever was defective in
Mann's intellect became m ore defective. Then one comes across
what Hinsdale thinks the defect was. He says of Mann that his in tel
lect was narrow because of his Puritan upbringing. According to
Hinsdale, this made it im possible for Mann to understand the P u r i
tans, "to do them justice" (21:268). Hinsdale says of Mann, "He had
no conception of Calvinism as an agent in the disciplining of m an
kind" (21:268).
But this is precisely where Mann broke with Calvinism. Mann
was not sure, as apparently Hinsdale was, that mankind needed the
type of disciplining that Calvinism practiced. Hinsdale seem s to be
criticizing Mann for having broken with Calvinism , and he implies
that this break is due to a defect in Mann's intellect caused by the
narrow ness of his having been raised in a Calvinist environm ent. And
this defect was intensified by Mann's m oral earnestness! Apparently
where Hinsdale disagrees with Mann, he wants to attribute Mann's
bad thinking to a defect in M ann's intellect. This, of course, is the
com m ission of the ad homin^n fallacy, and Hinsdale is drawing an
unw arranted conclusion.
Hinsdale draw s another interesting conclusion which makes
one wonder why his analysis of Mann has had any influence at all on
la te r thinkers. After stating that Mann was "a man of action and not
a philosopher, " Hinsdale indicates that he thought him quite a sue-
35
cessful "m an of action. " He gives a long su m m ary of M ann's acc o m
plishm ents in the field of education. Then he proceeds to take all the
credit away from Mann. "It is not pretended, indeed, " he states,
"that M r. Mann did all this" (21:277). Mann had the support of the
Board of Education and many te a c h e rs and educators. The people of
M assachusetts w ere ready for these school re fo rm s. "Much of the
work would have been accom plished, and perhaps all of it, if M r.
Mann had continued in his law office, or had never been born" (21:
277).
Thus H insdale, firs t giving credit to Mann, takes it from him
by expressing a th eo retical argum ent which has certainly n ever been,
or for that m atter, can never be proven. The argum ent can be r e
stated as follows: C ertain events have taken place, and certain r e
sults have followed. An integral p a rt of these events was the le a d e r
ship of M r. X. But, if M r. Y o r anyone else had been in M r. X's
position, the sam e events and the sam e re su lts would have followed.
The trouble with the above argum ent is that, in the nature of
the case, it can neither be proven true nor false. An event or a s e
rie s of events cannot be duplicated with som eone else in the le a d e r
ship position. It is im possible to say what the effects of a different
lead ership would be. To a s s e rt they would be the same under any
leadership is to take the Calvinist position on determ inism for
granted.
P erhaps one reason Hinsdale did not feel Mann was a philoso
pher was because Mann did not indulge in the form of speculation
Hinsdale exhibited in this bit of c ritic ism .
36
W orks of C ritical C h aracter
Joy E lm er Morgan in his Horace Mann lecture, entitled "The
School That Built a Nation, " delivered at the U niversity of P ittsburg
in 1954, gives a short resum e of his own life. He was a tea c h e r who
went to Washington in 1920 to found the Division of Publications of the
National Education A ssociation and to becom e the firs t editor of its
Journal, a position which he held for many y ears. Morgan was a key
figure in the organization of the Horace Mann Centennial in 1937. He
published two books on H orace Mann which a re reviewed here.
In Horace Mann, His Ideas and Ideals, Morgan w rites a con
cise biography of Mann. The r e s t of the short volume consists of
w ritings by Mann him self: one of his lectu res on education, his " L e t
te r to School Children, " and a se rie s of quotations from the en tire
span of M ann's w ritings entitled "Ideas and Ideals. "
M organ's purpose is to provide an introduction to the life and
w ritings of Mann. Morgan gives a fascinating picture of the e ra of
Horace Mann. This was a tim e of excitem ent, of development, of r e
form . This was a great age in A m erican lite ra tu re . It was the p e ri
od of Longfellow, Lowell, E m erson, W hittier, Thoreau, Irving,
Bryant, G reeley, Holm es, Hawthorne, Bronson, Louisa Alcott, Poe
and others.
In such an epoch Horace Mann and his follow ers w ere destined to
lay the foundations for cultural dem ocracy. No other age in all
history could have given a lifetim e such wide range of personal
experience and observation, with such rise from m odest s u r
roundings to so noble an opportunity for service and achieve
m ent. (52:7)
Morgan points out that the drain on the economy made by the
Revolution and, later, the W ar of 1812, diverted the re so u rc e s of the
37
young country away from education. In addition, the aim s of ’’liberty"
and "equality" which w ere incorporated in our form al governm ental
organization w ere not consciously accepted with all their p ractical
lim itations by m ost of the people of that tim e. "Only a few great
lead ers realized the need of education for all if dem ocratic govern
m ent w ere to survive" (52:14).
Morgan feels that Mann was the chief figure among the early
lead ers who pioneered the development of free public education in the
United States. "The struggle to establish and im prove the schools, "
com m ents Morgan, "is one of the m ajo r struggles of A m erican h isto
ry, to be com pared in significance with the Revolutionary and Civil
W ars" (52:14).
In 1837 Mann was faced with a situation in M assachusetts
w here the public schools w ere organized on a d istric t basis with no
state-w ide standards for either teach ers or physical plant, no stan
dard curriculum , no standards for length of either school day or
school year, and very poor local support. The State Board of Educa
tion was initiated with no powers to force through any p articu lar p ro
gram . It was set up to collect inform ation on the schools and to d is
sem inate inform ation on the m ost successful ways of conducting stud
ies and educating the young people. Mann, of course, desired to
change this situation. He looked upon his position as S ecretary as a
platform from which he could enunciate an educational philosophy
which could tran sfo rm the schools into instrum ents of dem ocracy to
the benefit of all the people. Morgan points out, "As ju rist, orator,
and legislator, Mann brought the laym an's experience in public af
38
fa irs to the cause of education. He knew his people and his tim es.
He knew that the people could be counted upon if they understood what
was at stake" (52:14).
Mann knew that he needed to win support for a new educational
p ro g ram by enlightening the whole people with an organized exposition
of a fundam entally dem ocratic philosophy. He had no power to coerce
but he had the ability clearly to expound a position. This becam e his
m ajo r weapon. M organ points out that
the achievem ent of the A m erican schools is the fir s t g rea t battle
of the m a sse s won without w a r--th e firs t exam ple in hum an h isto
ry of what can be done on a large scale through intelligence and
cooperation to achieve opportunities for the m a sse s which in f o r
m e r ages had required violent revolutions. (52:14)
Morgan recognizes M ann's objectives as social objectives in
which education is m e re ly one of the m ain instrum ents to achieve
dem ocracy and full developm ent of the individual. In his H orace Mam
at Antioch, Morgan has produced a v ery im portant book on Mann. It
is the f ir s t published in this century which re p rin ts a substantial num
b e r of M ann's original and im portant w ritings and speeches. M organ,
in addition, was one of those responsible for the publication of the
Centennial editions of M ann's Twelve Annual R eports to the M a ssa
chusetts State B oard of Education as w ell as Go F o rth and T each ,
M ann's m ost fam ous "F ourth of July O ration" of 1842, and M ary
M ann's Biography of H orace M ann. Most other volum es containing
im portant original w orks by H orace Mann h im self w ere published
p rio r to this century. The only exceptions other than M organ's two
books a re Law rence C re m in 's The Republic and the School, published
in 1957, and Louis F ille r 's H orace Mann on the C risis in Education,
39
published in 1965.
In H orace Mann at Antioch, Morgan includes a num ber of
w orks by him self and other educators like Payson Smith, Algo H en
d erson and A rthur Morgan about H orace M ann's thoughts and work in
higher education. The volume also includes rep rin ts of six famous
ad d re sses and seven "Antioch Serm ons. " In the appendix th ere is a
very complete bibliography of Horace Mann m aterial, assem bled and
annotated by Eleanor Craven F ishburn of th e National Education
A ssociation.
Morgan says of the role Mann played:
The contribution of Horace Mann in establishing the schools was
so fundamental that he is known as the F ather of the A m erican
Public School. Mann cam e upon the scene just as the period when
our railro ad s w ere being built and our cities w ere starting th eir
growth. In 1830 there w ere in the United States but 26 cities of
8000 population o r m ore. When Mann becam e the firs t S ecretary
of the M assachusetts State Board of Education in 1837, the firs t
railro ad from Springfield to Albany had not been completed.
Schools' d istric ts were sm all. Poverty, disease, and child labor
w ere widely prevalent. Schools and teach ers had little standing.
Women had not yet come into th eir own. By inspiring new faith
in education among the m a sse s of the people and by showing how
the schools could be m ade better Horace Mann did for A m erican
education what Washington did for the Colonies and what Lincoln
did for the Union. With them he d eserv es a place among the
im m o rtals. (51:16)
In his book, Morgan p rints a long excerpt from an article by
Payson Smith on H orace M ann's role in developing public education
in M assachusetts (63). Payson Smith, who from 1916-1936 was Com
m issio n er of Education in M assachusetts, w rites the following co m
m ents.
It is not possible to get an adequate idea of the significance of
Mann's work unless we project it against the background of his
tim e. He is usually spoken of as being the lead er of an educa
tional revival. Strictly speaking, th ere was no revival of public
40
education in the th irties of the la s t century, because th e re was
not at that tim e and never had been in A m erica anything like a
system of public education.
The y e ar in which H orace Mann took up his duties as S e c re
ta ry of the State Board of Education in M assachusetts was a l
m o st exactly two centuries a fte r th ree notable events in the h i s
to ry of A m erican education--the founding of the Boston Latin
School in 1635, the founding of H arvard College in 1636, and the
prom ulgation in 1647 of a declaratio n in behalf of popular ed uca
tion.
By the y e ar 1837 half a century had already passed since the
statem ent m ade by Washington, Jefferson, and others of the
founding fath ers that the education of the people is e sse n tia l to
the secu rity of any governm ent based on the prin cip les of d e m
ocracy. In spite of the fact that these men had adm onished the
people that schools should be established, the nation and the sep
a ra te states w ere well into the constitutional e ra before p ractical
steps w ere taken leading to the gen eral establishm ent and p ro m i-
tion of the public schools. In fact, a conception of education as
p a rt of the fundam ental obligation of a dem ocracy did not become
firm ly established in the m inds of the people until they had p ro g
re s se d a good half century into the constitutional era.
In 1830 the colleges, chiefly denom inational in c h a ra c te r,
w ere sm all, poor, and struggling. They lacked endowment,
equipm ent, and suitable buildings. T heir offerings w ere for the
m ost p art academ ic, designed to be useful in p rep aratio n for the
m in istry , and to a less extent for other professions.
As to secondary education, a fte r 200 y ears of the exam ple set
by Boston, a scant score of towns had established high schools.
Education above the common school was generally provided by
academ ies and sem in aries which w ere privately conducted and
w ere, like the colleges, generally under church control. While
these private academ ies p erfo rm ed a service of great value,they
only slightly reflected the ideals of free public education r e p r e
sented by the high schools of the p resen t tim e. In short, in this
country a century ago, p rac tic ally all education above the c o m
mon school was a private e n te rp rise , chiefly under church p a
tronage, and open only to those who could m ee t the tuition c h a r
ges n e ce ssa ry for the p a rtia l support of the schools.
The situation in the com m on schools, as they w ere then called,
was not le ss depressing. D espite two centuries of preachm en ts
and pronouncem ents, th ere w ere in 1830 only three states that
had com m itted them selves by constitution and law to support of
free education. In all the others th ere was the practice of su p
porting schools on a fee b a sis with an accompanying policy of
paying, through so called "paper taxes, " for the schooling of
41
some who could not afford to pay tuition. In some of these states
these pauper school rate s w ere not finally abolished until late in
the first half of the nineteenth century.
T here was little cause for congratulation, however, even in
those states that had accepted the theory of free education, since
the schools they provided were so inferior that they w ere often
attended only by children whose parents could not afford to send
them to private tuition schools. In the early part of the century
it was reported that there were in some New England towns m ore
pupils in the private than in the public schools.
It was thus a so rry scene acro ss which Horace Mann looked
when he entered into the service of the M assachusetts State Board
of Education. T here was nothing anywhere that could be c o rre c t
ly described as a system of education. Only the common schools
had been accepted as a public responsibility, and in their case
that responsibility was but feebly discharged. School te rm s were
brief and irreg u lar; buildings w ere m ean and shabby; school
equipment was lacking; the teaching office itself was in low e s
teem . At best, the teachers w ere young college students p re p a r
ing for some other profession than teaching,, away from th eir
studies for a few weeks in order to earn a little money to help
pay their college bills. At w orst, they w ere elem entary pupils a
little older and m ore advanced than others, and thus presum ably
able to "keep school. " The m ajority of children attended school
irregularly, while many m ore were in school for extrem ely lim
ited periods of tim e, or not at all.
In the entire country, as late as 1823, there was only one
place where young persons could get even the elem ents of p re p
aration for teaching. That place was an academ y in Concord,
Vermont, where in that year the Reverend Samuel R. Hall first
offered courses for teachers. Illiteracy, even toward the middle
of the century, was a prevailing condition in many parts of the
country. In New England, towns were often served by officials
who were not able to w rite their names.
Even m ore significant than these visible deficiencies was the
apparent apathy of the public. With the schools universally poor,
there appeared to be little discontent about the m atter, and no
generally expressed desire to co rrect it. Perhaps no m ore
striking com m entary on educational conditions could be found than
the disapproval expressed by Mann's friends of his devoting his
talents to what seem ed to them the me? ' and lowly task of s e c re
tary in the new Board of Education. (■ 19-23)
It is obvious from the above statem ent that Payson Smith and
Joy E lm er Morgan both thought that Mann's role in the development of
the public schools was extrem ely im portant. Smith is here repudia
42
ting the title of H insdale's book. Smith says that th ere was no "re v iv
al of public education" in the 1830's. Mann played a pioneering and
creative role in education, according to Smith, and his p erso n al role
was crucial to the developm ents which took place.
Two other w orks on H orace Mann which give quite a different
picture fro m that given by Hinsdale are M erle C u rti's The Social
Ideas of A m erican E ducators, fir s t published in 1935, and Law rence
C rem in 's The Republic and the School published in 1957. The latter
contains a se rie s of excerp ts from M ann's Twelve Annual R eports
and an introduction by C rem in entitled "H orace M ann's Legacy. "
C rem in says that "Mann had won his victory, and it only presaged
other great victories to come" (9:27).
C rem in feels that what Horace Mann had to say is still tim ely.
Even though the situation now is different from the 1830's and 1840's,
"one cannot help but sense the continued tim elin ess of M ann's d isc u s
sions" (9:27).
It is interesting, in the light of what Hinsdale had to say about
Mann, that an educational h isto rian like C rem in feels that Mann had
an im portant th eo retical contribution to m ake in education and that
this contribution is in the a re a of the relationship between education,
freedom , and our form of republican governm ent. C rem in feels,
fu rth er, that Mann made an extrem ely im portant th eo retical contribu
tion in his discussions on the relationship between intellectual and
m o ral education. M ann's work was fundam entally to be understood in
ethical te rm s, and "his w ritings continue to com m end them selves to
those seeking to penetrate the inextricable relationships between edu
cation, freedom , and dem ocracy" (9:28).
.......................... ........ .............- 4 3
M erle C urti in his The Social Ideas of A m erican Educators d e
votes the third chapter to Horace Mann. He first published this book
in 1935, over 20 y e a rs p rio r to the publication of C rem in's book. Curti
says that Mann had a set of ideas which could be called a social philos
ophy. These w ere basic to Mann's work in education. C urti feels that
Mann's early C alvinist environment, his long struggle to overcom e
poverty and to secu re an education, his success as a lawyer and le g is
lator, and his involvement with Combe and the phrenologists w ere all
influences which shaped his intellectual and m oral development.
On the question of the influence of the phrenologists, both Curti
and C rem in understood this movement to be an early development in
the field of psychology. During Mann's tim e the phrenologists w ere in
vogue and were very influential in both psychology and ethics. Crem in
points out that Mann was able to use the phrenologists approach to
separate the teaching of m orality from its usual m ilieu of a particular
sectarian religion (9:14). C urti felt that Mann becam e "a convert
without qualification to the doctrines of phrenology" (13:111). C urti's
stand on this is probably too strong. Mary Mann had said that Horace
Mann did not agree with Com be's position completely but had m erely
used what he had thought was c o rre ct in the theory (44:47).
C urti says that Mann developed the specific features of his
social philosophy gradually out of the particular problem s that con
fronted him. C urti points out that Mann, though not the first to speak
on the m atter, was the main popularizer of the m onetary value of edu
cation. C urti feels that Mann's social philosophy was developing as a
m ajor critique of the social evils of his day, but that it stopped short
of being a fundam ental critique of the basic conflict, which C urti seesj
|between capital and labor in his society. He is also critical of Mann,
because the la tte r felt th at education could play an am eliorating role
in the development of the A m erican society.
F ro m C u rti's point of view, in the m iddle of the great d e p re s
sion, it was peculiar to read that anyone could place a m onetary value
on education or could speak m eaningfully of the ''am eliorating role of
education. " T here w ere m any difficulties staring one in the face in the
1930's that, C urti feels, education could not, in itself, solve. C urti
feels that Mann him self learned this lesson when he decided to leave
education and go to C ongress to fight slavery. C u rti's discussion of
Mann is extrem ely im portant, because he is one of the early experts in
the field of education who realized that Mann was bringing a b ro ad so
cial point of view to his work as an educator. That C urti found certain
points in M ann's approach inadequate is not at all surprising.
T here seem to be a num ber of inadequacies in C u rti's analysis.
When he labels phrenology a pseudo-science, he indicates that he did
not understand its role during M ann's day. His critique of M ann's
analysis of the role of education in a dem ocracy is too superficial.
Yet he is going in the right direction.
Two other very im portant books on Mann a re Raymond B.
C u lv er's H orace Mann and Religion in the M assachusetts Public
Schools and Neil G erard M cCluskey's Public Schools and M oral Edu
cation. These books a re both on the specific problem s indicated in
the titles. C ulver's study was published in 1929 and M cCluskey's in
1958. Culver has done a very thorough re s e a rc h job, and his book
gives the c le a re st picture of any w ork available of the relationship
45
between religion and the public schools in M assachusetts p rio r to and
during M ann's tenure as S ecretary of the State Board of Education.
M cCluskey uses C ulver's work as a basic source for his own analysis
of M ann's conceptions on the relationship between sectarian religion,
m orality, and public education. McCluskey uses other basic m aterial
also, and he extends the work to include a review and analysis of the
ideas of W illiam T orrey H a rris and John Dewey in the sam e a re a.
M cCluskey's basic goal is to set forth the treatm ent by th ree p ro m i
nent educators of the problem of religious pluralism and the philoso
phy of values commonly found in theory about public schools.
McCluskey points out that it had been generally assum ed in the
A m erican heritage that these m o ral and spiritual values w ere closely
related to religious value-system s. The separation of these values
fro m their sectarian religious context was one of the social develop
m ents taking place when Mann was actively engaged in building the
common schools in M assachusetts. Mann was intim ately involved in
this development, and, though he felt the im portant m oral and s p iri
tual values were imbedded in a religious m atrix, he did not feel they
w ere necessarily imbedded in one sectarian position as against the
other.
One of the assum ptions McCluskey m akes in his study of these
th re e men is "that Am erican society has insisted historically, and
continues to insist, that the common school take a proper re sp o n si
bility for the character form ation of its children" (46:5). T here is no
doubt that Mann took this assum ption seriously.
The problem of being responsible for the c h aracter form ation
46
of the young and at the sam e tim e separating the values involved in
this c h a ra c te r form ation from a sectarian religious m atrix was one
of the m ost im portant ones which Mann faced. Mann was opposed to
se c ta ria n religious education in the public schools. C ulver goes into
a detailed analysis of M assachusetts law on this point. He has a long
discussion on each of the c o n tro v ersies which developed around the
problem of the relationship of the teaching of religion and m o rality in
the public schools. Mann followed a consistent policy in this a re a .
Not only did he feel he was th eo retically c o rre c t, but he knew that,
fro m the p ractical point of view, sectarian strife would te a r the
schools a p art if sectarian teaching w ere perm itted.
It should be rem em b ered that up until and, even after, the
Law of 1827 was passed by the M assachusetts leg islatu re the teaching
of se cta ria n religion, especially C alvinism , was taken for granted
through M assachusetts. M ann's s tric t interpretation of the law p r o
voked m uch opposition. But M ann's handling of the situations as they
a ro se resulted in a change of attitude toward the role of the public
schools in the a re a of religious and m oral education. This new a p
proach had fa r reaching effects through the whole country. It is now
taken for granted by m ost A m ericans that se c ta ria n religions cannot
be taught in the public schools.
Culver points out that m ost of the attacks on Mann w ere from
the orthodox Calvinist point of view. They w ere initiated by individ
uals who felt that Mann and the B oard of Education w ere interp retin g
the laws too rigidly. However, when the original Board of Education
was organized in 1837, G overnor Edward E v ere tt m ade certain that
47
it had orthodox opinion well represented. On the question of approv
ing books for the school lib ra rie s, unanimous approval of each volume
was required before the Board as a whole gave its approval. When
Mann was attempting to hire principals for the three norm al schools,
the positions were offered to a num ber of orthodox teachers in each
case, p rio r to the actual selection. In other words, Mann and the
Board followed a policy of involving many of the orthodox Calvinist
leaders in the detailed work of the Board. This policy worked to the
benefit of the Board, as these leaders learned to recognize that the
Unitarian m ajority of the Board was in no way attempting to use the
schools for their own sectarian purposes.
A m ajor point made by Culver is that these attacks by individ
uals against Mann and the State Board were not successful, because
they could never generate a united political attack by enough people to
overcom e the influence of Mann and the Board. Those orthodox indi
viduals who had become involved in the work of the Board rare ly lent
their influence to the attackers. The attacks appeared politically to
be just what they really were; attacks by disgruntled individuals who
disagreed with a specific decision of the Board and who attempted to
disguise the narrow ness and selfishness of the attack by giving it the
wider cover of a religious cloak. Hence, though dangerous and d is
ruptive to the development of education in M assachusetts, they never
were able to stop the progress made by Horace Mann and the Board.
It is interesting that Culver felt that Mann's specific sugges
tions on the relation of religion to the schools was not sectarian,
whereas McCluskey in his study felt that Mann him self took a s e c ta r
48
ian position. This was because Mann felt th ere w ere p a rts of the
Bible which could be ag reed upon by everyone and that these could be
read in c la ssro o m s with no com m ent by the te a c h e r. Mann felt this
would not be teaching a se c ta ria n religion in the schools. Mann never
took the position that no religio n should be taught. But M cCluskey,
from the m odern Catholic point of view, w onders w hether such a g re e
m ent as Mann is speaking of can be achieved. M cCluskey feels that
th ere cannot be any " n o n -se cta ria n " religion.
One fu rth er point should be noted. C ulver felt that s e c u la ri
zation of the schools is one of the things which led to in c re a se s in
juvenile delinquency and adult c rim e. C ulver questions the p o ssib ili
ty of m eaningfully sep arating religion and m o ral theory. Most m od
e rn philosophers would hold that th ere is no n e c e ssa ry connection
between the teaching of religions and the teaching of m orality. C ulver
h ere seem s to be m aking an a p rio ri deduction which m ay not be fa c
tually w arranted when he attem pts to estab lish a causal connection
between the secu larizatio n of education and the in cre ase in juvenile
delinquency and adult c rim e .
The m ost recen t book about H orace Mann is H orace Mann On
The C risis In Education, published in 1965. Louis F ille r edited the
book and w rote the short introduction.
In the introduction which is titled "A Question of O bso les
cences: H orace Mann and O urselves, " F ille r m akes a num ber of
a s s e rtio n s -- a ll eith er wrong or questionable.
1. He says that "this volume is the f irs t substantial collection
of M ann's w ritings since his widow and son ceased th e ir lab o rs" (18:
49
viii). This is a surprising assertio n and indicates that F ille r either
did not know about M organ's Horace Mann at Antioch or the Centennial
facsim ile editions of Mann's Twelve Annual R eports o r did not consid
e r them "substantial. "
2. He a s s e rts that M ann's "works have not been available. "
This is not so. Mann's works are available. That they have not been
in general use is one of F ille r 's propositions with which one can
ag ree. But F ille r's reasoning on this point is also questionable.
3. F ille r a s s e rts that we "do not feel the need for his
[Mann's] thoughts" (18:viii), because "Mann is held to have too well
attained his aim s" (18:vii). If we have attained his aim s too well, we
have no further need for his thought. The fact that F ille r edited this
volume is an indication that he thinks we do need M ann's thoughts in
the present situation in education. He feels, however, that Mann, if
he w ere here today, would have opposed the m ass expansion of educa
tion at the expense of quality. F iller is saying we have over fulfilled
M ann's goals and that now Mann would be interested in curbing " s tu
dent population in the in terest of student quality" (18:viii). F ille r 's
position is suspect here. When Mann speaks of universal and free
education for everyone as a goal, he m eant everyone. It is doubtful
if Mann would have thought his goals over-fulfilled; it is doubtful if,
at the present tim e, he would have thought them nearly fulfilled.
4. F ille r a sse rts that Mann's influence is alm ost, if not e n
tire ly , lost. He says, "I a s s e r t that H orace Mann's influence on
A m erican life and education is close to nil, and that we are all the
w orse for it" (18:vii). If M ann's goals have been even partially
50
achieved, it is false to a s s e r t that his influence is "nil. " It m ay be
true, and probably is, that we are not conscious that Mann was one of
the f ir s t to propose these goals or that he worked very successfully
to get the movem ent for free public schools started. But if facts are
actualities which affect people, then Mann's continued influence is
assu red .
F iller probably m eans by his statem ent that Mann has a great
deal to say to us today. Here he is, o r seem s to be, on firm ground;
this is certainly one of the m ajor points of this study. But then we
probably need m ore adequately edited books than F ille r's to help
awaken a new in terest in M ann's w riting.
There are many technical w eaknesses in this volume of F ille r's
which detract from its value. There is no index. T here are no re f
eren ces in the book which indicate exactly where any of the rep rin ts
are to be found in M ann's original work. The section headed "Thoughts
F ro m Horace Mann" contains many interesting thoughts stated out of
context. At the beginning of each section, there a re a number of quo
tations from Mann. Again they are out of context. Although the
chapters or sections which contain extensive rep rin ts from Mann's
work usually give a general reference to the original from which the
excerpt is taken, no page or publication references are given. F iller
rem a rk s that he did not do an extensive bibliography or give exact
references to original m aterial because these would only be in te re s t
ing to "a solitary th esis w riter but no one else" (18:xiv). This is no
way to make M ann's w ritings popular! A "solitary thesis w riter"
doesn't need the exact referen ces or a bibliography. It would seem
51
that the very people F ille r says he wishes to in terest in Mann's
w ritings a re those who have suffered because of F ille r's careless
editing.
H istories
In a strictly contem porary context the mention (or lack of it)
of Horace Mann in histo ries of the United States is revealing.
In examining a num ber of h istories of the A m erican people
one either finds no reference to Mann or only a reference to his great
work with the public schools. F or instance, A rthur Schlesinger, J r .
in his Age of Jackson does not mention Mann. This is surprising in
that Schlesinger mentions the effect of Jacksonian dem ocracy on the
codifying of statutes in various states (62:134) and fails to mention
the m ajor work that Mann perform ed on the recodifying of M assachu
setts laws when he was in the Senate of the State L egislature, a work
of which he was very proud (66:125). Even in his chapter entitled
"Stirrings in the Bay State, " which discusses political and economic
developments in M assachusetts during and after the Jacksonian p e r i
od, Mann is not mentioned (62:80). Yet Mann was a m em ber of the
M assachusetts State legislature for 10 years from 1827 to 1837 and
was P resident of the State Senate the last y ears before becoming the
firs t S ecretary of the State Board of Education.
W illiam M iller in his book A New H istory of the United States
does not mention Horace Mann at all. This in spite of the fact that
Mann played a national role in a num ber of ways. As a m em ber of
Congress for three y ears, taking John Quincy Adam s' place upon the
52
la tte r's death, he becam e one of the m ost prom inent a n ti-slav e ry
p artisan s, giving a num ber of very im portant speeches on the subject
in the House of R epresentatives. Mann also was a m ajo r supporter of
the refo rm s proposed by Dorothy Dix fo r the treatm en t of the insane.
F u rth e r, while in Washington, he was the m ajo r defense attorney in
the fam ous Drayton and Sayres case; probably the m ost fam ous a n ti
fugitive slave law case p rio r to the Dred Scott case (66:225-34).
Samuel Eliot M orison in his newly published The Oxford H is
tory of the A m erican People does m ention Mann (54:530-31) slightly
in two very b rief notices. One of these gives a fallacious evaluation
of M ann--and includes an h isto rical e r r o r su rp risin g from such an
erudite historian. In a section discussing"Popular and Higher E duca
tion" M orison says:
In New England the firs t problem was to m ake efficient the colo
nial system of free elem entary schools, m aintained by townships
and taught by birch wielding pedagogues o r m uscu lar college stu
dents during their vacations. H orace Mann sought efficient m eth
ods in Europe, and found them in Germ any. Victor Cousins' r e
port on P ru ssian education, which he had tran slated , becam e
widely known in the United States and was adapted to A m erican
needs when, in 1837, H orace Mann becam e chairm an of the new
M assachusetts board of education. He and his colleagues co m
bined enthusiasm with an intellectual balance that brought p e r
m anent re su lts. Under th eir influence the firs t A m erican te a c h
e r s ' college was established in 1839. A fter a struggle with the
older tea ch e rs, who insisted that m ental discipline would be lost
if studies w ere made attractive, the elem entary school ceased to
be a place of te r r o r for the young; but th ere was no " p e rm iss iv e
n e ss"--c h ild re n still had to lea rn the fundam entals. (54:530)
This is the extent of M orison1 s m ention of H orace Mann except
for one slight com parative referen ce on Calvin E. Stowe's Ohio rep o rt
on European schools. M orison says, "His R eport on E lem entary In
struction in Europe had an influence only less than the rep o rts of
Horace Mann, and among other things was responsible for dividing
53
Ohio public education into elem entary, gram m ar, and high school
g rad es" (54:531).
The above quotations from M orison a re the only ones where
M ann's name is mentioned in the detailed 1122 page histo ry of the
A m erican People. It should be mentioned that Morison e r r s factually
and com m its what is known to logicians as the inform al fallacy of a c
cent in his b rief statem ents on Mann. Horace Mann was not P r e s i
dent of the M assachusetts State Board of Education. He was appointed
a m em b er of the Board on its form ation in May 1837, by Governor
Edward E verett soon after he had signed, in his function of P resident
of the State Senate, the law setting up the B oard. On June 30, 1837,
Mann resigned as a m em ber of the Board to becom e its firs t S e c re
ta ry in response to the com m ittee of the State Board in charge of
choosing and securing the serv ices of a full-tim e se cre tary .
M orison com m its the fallacy of accent in his statem ent that
H orace Mann sought efficient m ethods of educating children in Europe
and finding them in P ru ssia . It is tru e that Mann visited P ru ssia, but
he both praised and criticized the P ru ssian schools and teach ers.
M ann's trip took place in 1843 and his report to the State Board which
included his rem a rk s on European schools w as his famous Seventh
Annual R eport. The im pression from M orison is that Mann got his
ideas with reg ard to teaching methods and adm inistration from
P ru s sia . This is not so. He had been S ecretary to the State Board
since 1837 and had made many of his m ost famous re m a rk s and r e c
om m endations with regard to both teaching and adm inistration long
p rio r to his trip to Europe. As anyone who reads the Seventh Annual
j 54
t R eport can e asily verify, Mann w as enthusiastic about some a sp ec ts
of the P ru s sia n schools because they confirm ed the value of m any of
the recom m endations he had previously m ade for the M assach u setts
schools. He, at the sam e tim e, was se v e rly c ritic a l of other a sp ec ts
I
of the P ru s sia n schools. M orison, by pointing up a p a rtia l tr u th out
of its h isto ric a l context, has given a com pletely erro n eo u s p ictu re of
i Mann.
It was perhaps M ann's fate to be fo rgotten by the h isto ria n s
becau se he had been classified as an educator in the narrow sp e c ia list
sense which the word has assu m e d . Even in this sense, the ed u cato r
has played an ex trem ely im p o rtan t role in the developm ent of A m e ri
can culture, and so it is stran g e that reputable and com petent h is to r i
ans have overlooked m en like H orace Mann. It is interesting that, of
the two large statues in fro n t of the entrance to the State Capitol in
M assachusetts, one is that of H orace Mann. F o r a state that played
such an im portant role in the developm ent of the A m erican cu ltu re to
so honor Mann when th e re w ere a m ultitude of m en mentioned m o re
prom inently by the h isto ria n s m u st have som e significance. One won
d e rs if the h isto ria n s have not overlooked Mann for two possible r e a
sons: one seem s to be the n atu ral a n ti-in te lle ctu alism which is an
u n d e rc u rren t in our A m erican culture and the o ther m ay be the snob
b ery the lib eral a rts sc h o lars seem to exhibit tow ard anyone in edu
cation. But w hatever the reaso n , he has com m only been overlooked.
H isto ries of Education
It is a different question with the educational h isto ria n s. Most
55
of them have recognized M ann's im portance in the h isto ry of the pub
lic schools in the United S tates. They have tre a te d him as an ed u ca
to r and claim ed him as one of th e ir own to such an extent that few have
rea liz ed his im portant achievem ents in fields o ther than that of the
a re a of the developm ent of the com m on schools. They have also
failed to rea liz e that his achievem ents in all a re a s he en tered w ere
unified by an underlying philosophical approach to life in g en eral and
to the developing d em o cratic A m erican culture in p a rtic u la r. It is
the hypothesis of this d isse rta tio n that none of his activity can be un
derstood independently of any o th er activity or of his b asic p h ilo so
phical approach.
A num ber of books concerned with the h isto ry of education as
well as c ertain encyclopedia a rtic le s a re also p ertin en t to the subject
at hand.
F. V. N. P a in te r in A H isto ry of Education, originally pub
lished in 1886, has a section on education in the nineteenth century in
the United States but does not m ention H orace Mann at all.
Paul M onroe in A B rief C ourse in the H istory of Education
originally copywrited in 1907 does not m ention Mann.
Paul Monroe in a T ext-B ook in the H isto ry of Education, o r ig
inally copyw rited in 1905, m entions Mann in th re e p laces. He notes
that Mann introduced physiology into the c u rric u lu m (50:702), that
Mann drew m any of his ideas on education fro m his trip to G erm any
(50:669) and that Mann was "a leading ag itato r" in the education re v iv
al in the e a rly nineteenth century (50:735).
Stephen P ie rc e Duggan in A Student's Textbook in the H istory
56
of Education, published in 1916, m entions Mann in four places. He
says that one way P estalo zzian ism was introduced into A m erican ed u
cation was through the popularity of M ann's Seventh R eport (17:242).
He m entions that physiology was introduced into the c u rric u lu m
through M ann's influence (17:284). He devotes one sentence to Mann's
election as S e c re tary of the State B oard of Education and his influence
against the d istric t school (17:343). Two pages a re la te r devoted to a
v ery incom plete su m m ary of M ann's c a r e e r , with the unsupported
concluding re m a rk that "the m an who was the lite ra ry and philosophic
exponent of the m ovem ent and who had a g re a te r influence than
H orace Mann in the United States outside New England was H enry
B a rn ard " (17:349-351).
W illiam Boyd of the U niversity of Glasgow in his book entitled
The H istory of W estern Education does not m ention Mann at all,
though he m entions other A m ericans and has a long section on John
Dewey. This book was copywrited in 1921, and the fifth edition was
published in 1950, indicating that nothing on Mann was added by 1950.
Edwood P. Cubberly in Public Education in the United S ta te s,
published in 1919, m entions Mann in six places. He speaks of M ann's
appointm ent as S e c re tary of the State B oard of Education and ends a
two page su m m ary of his influence with the statem ent:
So successful was he, and so ripe w as the tim e for such a m o v e
m ent, that he not only sta rte d a g re a t comm on school rev iv al in
M assachusetts, which led to the reg en eratio n of the schools th e re ,
but one which was felt and which influenced developm ent in every
n o rthern state. (11:164-66)
Cubberly also d isc u sse s M ann's co n tro v ersy with the Boston
sch o o lm asters (11:166). He d isc u sse s M ann's fam ous Seventh Annual
57
Report and uses H insdale's analysis of this (11:277). He says the
controversy added to Mr. Mann's im portance in the history of A m e ri
can education. "In p articular it gave support to the recently e sta b
lished norm al schools, and to the efforts of a few to im prove in stru c
tion by the adoption of a better classification of pupils and P estaloz-
zian methods and subject m atter" (11:279).
Cubberly gives excerpts from Mann's dedication speech at the
firs t state norm al school (11:290-93). In the book there is no other
reference to Mann's w ritings, though there a re many references to
the Hinsdale biography of Horace Mann.
Cubberly in his book called The H istory of Education, pub
lished in 1920, uses much of the sam e m aterial, frequently the sam e
wording, as in his book mentioned above. He goes a little further in
praising Mann for his twelve annual rep o rts and their influence (10:
689). He p raises Mann as a great cam paigner, conducting "ca m
paigns" every y ear "on the meaning and im portance of general educa
tion" (10:690). He says
No one did m ore than he to establish in the minds of the American
people the conception that education should be universal, non
sectarian, and free, and that its aim should be social efficiency,
civic virtue, and character, ra th e r than m ere learning o r the
advancement of sectarian aim s. Under his practical leadership
an unorganized and heterogeneous se ries of community school
system s was reduced to organization and welded together into a
state school system , and the people in M assachusetts w ere effec
tively recalled to th eir ancient belief in and duty toward the edu
cation of the people. (10:690)
In his discussion on M ann's fight against sectarianism , Cubberly
m akes the e rr o r of thinking that the State Board of Education was
"entirely liberal in religion" (10:692). This is answ ered by Culver,
58
who has pointed out that th ere w ere m any orthodox m em b ers of the
State B oard.
Cubberly speaks of Mann’s fight to establish fre e high schools
(10:702) and of his fight for norm al schools (10:752). On norm al
schools, Cubberly says, "T h eir success was larg ely due to the enthu
sia stic support given the new idea by H orace Mann" (10:752). T here
is nothing in C ubberly1 s rep o rts on Mann which indicates he looked
upon Mann as any other than a very enthusiastic, campaigning, and
successful o rg an izer in the public school m ovem ent. T here is no
discussion of M ann's ideas incorporated in his speeches and w ritings.
E dgar W. Knight in the third revised edition of Education in
the United S tates, which was copywrited in 1929, m akes a great many
refe ren c es to Mann throughout the book. He m entions Mann with other
fam ous A m erican educators like B arn ard , Wiley and M ills, and says
". . . because of his actual achievem ents and the extent of his influ
ence, Mann is recognized chief among them all" (25:208). Knight then
says that p rep aratio n for M ann's w ork in M assachusetts was going on
for two decades p rio r to his becom ing S ecretary of the State Board.
Knight says that Jam es G. C a rte r did m ost to pave the way for Mann
and that C a r te r 's "place in A m erican educational h isto ry is no less
im portant because the leadership of the m an for whom he rea lly p r e
pared the way was m o re spectacular" (25:209). This idea stem s d i
rec tly fro m H insdale's biography of Mann.
Knight spends about nine pages on M ann's various c o n tro v e r
sies and achievem ents, em phasizing them in a p ractical and non-
philosophic and non-theoretical sense. Th«.re is little referen ce to
59
M ann's sta te m e n ts the m se lv e s._____
H. G. Good in A H isto ry of A m e ric an Education, o rig in ally
copyw rited in 1956, m entions Mann in m any p laces in his book and
includes a ten page su m m ary of M ann's ach iev em en ts. The im p r e s
sion given of Mann is still in the trad itio n of H in sd a le's a n aly sis of
Mann as a p ra c tic a l non-philosophic m an of action. Good a ttrib u te s
m any of the ideas on education which w e re c u rre n t at the tim e to
E m e rso n . He say s: " E m e rso n w as a philosopher, not a school
founder like F ran k lin o r an a d m in istra tiv e le a d e r like H orace Mann.
Ideas w ere his specialty; and confidence in the pow er of education and
faith in the fre e individual w ere his b asic id eas" (19:129). H ere is
the im plication that ideas w ere c e rta in ly not H orace M ann's " s p e c ia l
t y ." In the sam e vein, Good sta te s th at "the prin cip le of fre e e d u ca
tion for a ll in public com m on schoo ls" (19:140) w as a new p rin cip le .
This was an A m erican idea. Europe w ith its dual sy ste m s did
not have it, and th e re fo re the United States could not b o rro w it.
The idea w as the c o rn e rsto n e of educational d e m o c rac y and it
m u st be em phasized that it w as laid in the tim e of H orace Mann
and H enry B a rn a rd , and la te r philosophies m e re ly built upon it.
(19:140)
Good does not state that this idea was em phasized by H orace Mann and
given m uch th e o re tic a l support by him ; it m e re ly "laid in the tim e of
H orace Mann. " Good does m ention th at E m e rso n e x p re sse d the idea
but not that Mann o r B a rn a rd did.
Good says that the c u rric u lu m , in the e a rly p a rt of the n in e
teen th century, "se em e d poorly adapted to the needs of f a r m e r s , r a i l
road b u ild e rs, and facto ry o p e ra tiv e s" (19:160). He sta te s that
"M ann was a u tilita ria n and a m o ra lis t. P e rh a p s he was a u tilita ria n
60
even in his ethics, but he was no professional philosopher and he m ay
not have been c le ar on this point in his own mind" (19:160). Good
cannot have known Horace M ann's m ind. Mann was m uch c le a re r than
Good on this point, and he would never have used words like " u tili
tarian , " "M oralist" and "ethics" so loosely o r so vaguely. F u rth er,
we see h ere that Good seem s to think that th ere is n e ce ssa rily a great
difference between a "professional philosopher" and a "no n -p ro fes
sional philosopher. " One can understand how, psychologically,
Hinsdale took this position in 1898, but not how anyone in the acad em
ic world can hold this position in 1956 without dem onstrating a d e
plorable lack of inform ation. Of course, m ost English philosophers
of note, as Bacon, Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley, and John Stuart Mill
could be called non-professional philosophers. And one of A m e ri
c a 's g rea test philosophers, C harles S. P e irce , was also a non -p ro
fessional in the sense that he was an active scientist outside of a c a
dem ic c irc le s for m ost of his life. Of course, Good does not even
call Mann a "non'professional" philosopher. Why he then needed the
adjective "professional" cannot be understood, except to em phasize
his th esis, stem m ing from Hinsdale, that Mann is solely a man of
action.
Good says that Mann "did believe that knowledge should be
practically useful and that utility outranks artistic elegance and phil
osophic wisdom. This set for him the problem of selecting the m ost
useful knowledge, a topic upon which H erb ert Spencer also was to
w rite" (19:160). This is a com plete m isin terpretation of M ann's en
tire philosophy and c a re e r. One wonders what Good would say of the
61
electives introduced by Mann at Antioch, where students could choose
between New T estam ent G reek and Analytic Geometry! C ontrary to
Good's characterization of Mann, Mann felt that general education,
intellectually and m orally, was m ore im portant than any specialized
education for the development of m en.
In a section entitled "M assachusetts Vindicated," Good says:
Mann, a lawyer, legislator, and politician, developed into a
m issionary, a public relations expert, and an educational field
general. Against angry opposition on m ore than one front, he
won a se ries of campaigns if not the w ar. . . . Mann was driven
by the conviction that education is the certain m eans to p ro s p e r
ity, security, happiness, and salvation. It was no m ere job he
had undertaken. It was a call, his vocation to m ake a better
world. He was not alone in his faith. . . . In 1830 all A m erica
hoped for a new social o rd er and many w ere certain that educa
tion was the m eans to produce it. Much of this heady optim ism
has given way to a sounder, m ore m oderate estim ate of the pow
er of education. (19:161)
So Mann did have a few ideas, Good concedes. But they w ere the
ideas currently widespread at the tim e, and they were a so rt of uto
pian ideas anyway. If one hopes for a "new social o rd er, " education,
Good says, is not the m eans to produce it. What is? What does he
m ean by this "sounder m ore m oderate estim ate of the power of edu
cation"? An education that does not affect men at all? A little? A
great deal?
One wonders about this "heady o p tim ism ." Does it now give
way to a "non-heady p essim ism "? But this is not the place to concen
trate on Good's loose usage of both language and ideas.
It is not surprising to note that Good recom m ends such books
on Horace Mann as those by M ary Mann (Life and W orks), E. I, F.
W illiams (Horace Mann: Educational Statesm an) and B. A. Hinsdale
Horace Mann and the Common School Revival in the United States).
62
Good obviously m ade m ajo r use of H insdale.
Kenneth H arvey Hansen in his Public Education in A m erican
Society, copywrited in 1956, m entions Mann only tw ice. N either of
these is m uch of a notice. He m entions Mann with Franklin, J e ffe r
son, B arn ard , and Dewey as among the " g re a te s t le a d e rs in the edu
cational and political life of our country" (20:18). He next m entions
Mann as having been appointed "chief state school a d m in istra to r" in
M assachusetts in 1837, the sam e y e ar the f ir s t city superintendent of
schools in the United States was appointed in Buffalo (20:18). This is
the entire notice given to H orace Mann in a book about public edu ca
tion in the United States w ritten in 1956.
Adolph E. M eyer in his book, An Educational H istory of the
W estern World, published in 1965, devotes a total of about two pages
to H orace Mann. He says: "One senses in him alm ost at once a hu
m ane and powerful personality. If he was an in veterate rom antic he
was also a re a lis tic and successful politician" (47:392). He says that
Mann, who was a re fo rm e r in legislative h alls, becam e the m an of
action in developing the public school system in M assach u setts. "To
rouse the public conscience, he unloaded speech a fte r speech. To
fortify his crusade yet m o re, he re so rte d to the printed word" (47:
393). And though his cam paigns roused enem ies, "Mann had a n atu ral
talent for a strong rejo in d er. D espite the efforts to rub him in the
mud, he was able in the end to b reak down nearly all the b a r r ie r s .
When a fte r a dozen y e a rs, his com bat was done, he could point to a
trium ph so colossal it was am azing" (47:393). M eyer goes on to list
som e of these accom plishm ents and then com pares Mann favorably
63
with B arnard (47:394).
But this, too, though flattering, gives a distorted picture of
Mann. Mann in his Twelfth Annual Report indicates are a after area
where much much m ore had to be done. He never considered his t r i
umphs colossal.
F urther, in M eyer's rep o rt we still have the appreciation for
Mann the activist and organizer but no understanding of Mann the phi
losopher and educational theorist.
E lm er H. Wilds, in the seventeenth printing in 1958 of The
Foundations of Education which was originally copyrighted in 1936,
mentions Mann on four pages and includes a picture on a fifth page.
All of Wild's statem ents about Mann are in a long chapter on national
ism in educational theory. Mann is listed with Jefferson and B arnard
in the United States as those who hold positions which m ake them
"stand out as advocates of nationalistic conceptions of education" (68:
409). They, according to Wilds, advocated a system of education to
achieve nationalistic aim s. And, Wilds says, "Nationalism in educa
tion aim s, in its ultimate analysis, at the preservation and glorifica
tion of the state" (68:409).
This categorization of Mann shows a complete lack of acquaint
ance with Mann's many statem ents in the political and the ethical
field. It is a very m isleading evaluation of Mann.
Wilds says, further, that this "nationalistic approach" has r e
sulted in "free and universal education" through elem entary, secon
dary and higher education" (68:426).
L ater, Wilds mentions Mann again, with B arnard, as a pioneer
64
in the establishm ent of free schools "for all the children of all the
people" (68:438). W ilds' last m ention of Mann in this book on the
foundations of education is p ra ise offered for the la tte r 's high sta n
dard s of pedagogy (68:449).
W ilds' en tire reportag e of H orace Mann is vitiated by his inept
placing of Mann in the category of one whose ultim ate ideas in educa
tion stem from his w ishes to p re se rv e and glorify the State. Nothing
could be fu rth e r from the truth. Mann looked upon the State as an in
stru m en t to be used by the people for th e ir w elfare, not to be p r e
se rv ed or glorified but to be continually adjusted to the needs and
best in te re s ts of the people.
Mehdi Nakosteen in his book, The H istory and Philosophy of
Education, published in 1965, gives six pages to a review of H orace
M ann's life and accom plishm ents. His analysis is based upon Law
rence C re m in 's book, The Republic and the School. Nakosteen fo l
lows C re m in 's position, and he uses C re m in 's se rie s of excerpts
from the Twelve Annual R e p o rts, plus som e of the rep o rts th em
selves, for his quotations from Mann. This is an im provem ent on
som e of the previous h isto rian s of education; but he still says:
"H orace Mann was not a 'c re a tiv e ' th e o rist in the s tric t sense of the
w ord. At best, he helped in applying som e of the views of his p re d e
c e ss o rs to educational p rac tic es in the United States" (55:460).
Nakosteen fails to m ention the p a rtic u la r " p re d e c e sso rs" or th eir
"view s, " so little can be done to answ er this statem ent. But
Nakosteen, despite his reliance on C re m in 's analysis, fails to follow
what seem s to be C re m in 's understanding that Mann was quite a c re a -
65
tive theorist in the area of education.
V. T. Thayer, in his book Form ative Ideas in A m erican Edu-
cation, published in 1965, bases all his ideas about Mann on C rem in's
The Republic and the School. All T hayer's quotations of Mann's
works are requoted from C rem in. He really m akes no evaluation of
Mann's contribution, but he does appreciate Mann's statem ents on the
im portance of universal education in a dem ocracy (65:95) and the im
portance of the publicly supported school in developing "values that all
might share" (65:96). He quotes from Mann's Fifth Annual Report
(from Cremin) on the im portance of public education to businessm en
(65:98) and from the Twelfth Annual Report (from Cremin) on educa
tion being "the great equalizer of the condition of men" (65:98).
T hayer uses C rem in's excerpts from Mann's Tenth Annual Report on
education as a natural right based upon certain ideas Mann had on the
ownership of property (65:100-03). He uses C rem in's excerpts from
the Twelfth Annual Report for quotations on Mann's ideas on the r e la
tionship between church, state and education (65:107-09). L ater in
the book, Thayer again d iscusses Mann's ideas on the school as "one
m eans of overcoming divisiveness" in A m erican life (65:312), Here
Thayer is better than m ost of the historians cited previously but is
lim ited, because his knowledge of Mann does not go beyond C rem in's
lim ited report. Good as it is, C rem in's book is m erely a short in tro
duction to Mann's thoughts on these various subjects.
In the Social History of A m erican Education, Volume I,
"Colonial Tim es to 1860, " edited by Rena L. V assar and published in
1965, there is a short excerpt from Mann's Twelfth Annual R eport.
66
In the chapter on the "F re e School Movement" there is one reference
to Horace Mann:
The sto ry is incomplete without recognizing the p art professional
educational re fo rm e rs played in the political a re a . Jam es C arter
and H orace Mann of M assachusetts, Henry B arnard of Connecti
cut, and W alter Johnson of Pennsylvania provided the factual in
form ation, the intellectual stim ulus, and the philosophical basis
that helped educate the public to the free school ideas. (69:159)
This is all th ere is in this volume on Horace Mann.
In the eleventh edition of the Encyclopedia B ritannica, pub
lished in 1911, there is a short a rticle on the life and achievem ents
of Horace Mann. The w rite r nam es books for fu rth er reading on the
subject. A fter mentioning M ary Peabody M ann's Life and W orks of
Horace Mann, the w rite r says, "Of subsequent biographies the best
is probably Burke A. H insdale's Horace Mann and the Common
School Revival in the United S tates" (114:XVII:587).
The thirteenth edition of the Encyclopedia B ritannica, pub
lished in 1926, uses the sam e w rite-up. The sam e referen ces are
mentioned, and H insdale's biography is recom m ended over all others
but that by M ary Mann.
The Encyclopedia B ritannica published in 1958 has the sam e
bibliographical referen ces as the one published in 1911. T here is no
book re fe rre d to newer than 1910. T here is one additional statem ent
in this a rticle which is erron eous. The author says: "In politics
Mann was a Whig of m oderate a n ti-slav e ry views" (117:XIV:815). One
wonders what is m eant by "m oderate. " Mann did not go along with
som e of the tactics of some of the abolitionists, but anyone who has
read his speeches on slavery in C ongress, or his rem a rk s at the
67
D rayton-Sayres trial* would know that Mann was uncom prom isingly
opposed to slavery.
The article on Horace Mann in the Encyclopedia B ritannica
published in 1961 was w ritten by Lawrence Crem in. Here we see a
complete change in the way in which Mann is ch aracterized . In his
bibliographical notes, C rem in does not mention H insdale's biography.
He does m ention Mary M ann's work and also E. I. F. W illiam s'
Horace Mann: Educational Statesm an and R. B. C ulver's Horace
Mann and Religion in the M assachusetts Public Schools.
C rem in had already published his book The Republic and the
School at this tim e, and he brings out the sam e new understanding of
Mann in this article. He points out, in reg ard to Mann's work as Sec
re ta ry of the State Board of Education, that the office
. . . demanded m oral leadership of the highest o rd er and this
Mann supplied for twelve y e ars. He started a biweekly Common
School Journal for teachers, and lectured widely to interested
groups of citizens. His Twelve Annual Reports to the board
ranged far and wide through the field of pedagogy, stating the
case for the public school and discussing its problem s. E sse n
tially his m essage centered on six fundamental propositions:
(1) that a republic cannot long rem ain ignorant and free , hence
the necessity of universal popular education; (2) that such edu
cation m ust be paid for, controlled and sustained by an interested
public; (3) that such education is best provided in schools e m
bracing children of all religious, social and ethnic background;
(4) that such education, while profoundly m oral in c h aracter,
m ust be free of sectarian religious influence; (5) that such edu
cation m ust be perm eated throughout by the spirit, methods and
discipline of a free society, and hence h arsh pedagogy in the
classroom is undesirable; and (6) that such education can be
provided only by w ell-trained, professional teach ers who have
m astered their subject m atter and the pedagogical a rts as well.
Mann encountered strong resisten ce to these id e a s--fro m clerg y
m en who deplored non-sectarian schools, from educators who
condemned his pedagogy as subversive of classroom authority,
*See Slavery by Horace Mann: a collection of M ann's speeches
on slavery.
and from politicians who opposed the board as an im p roper t r e s
pass on local educational au thority--but in the end his views p r e
vailed. (113:XIV:814)
This article shows an appreciation of Mann as a person who
acted on the basis of a conscious philosophic position and indicates
that C rem in thought of Mann in much different term s from those who
thought of Mann as solely a "m an of action. "
V
CHAPTER IV
METAPHYSICS AND EPISTEMOLOGY
G eneral Philosophy
M ann's m anner of e x p re ssio n is not always to our ta ste . He
sh a re s what, to us, is the bad habit of capitalizing w ords like "Truth,"
"A bsolute, " and "Love. " He e x p re sse s an unspecific relig io sity c o m
m on to m any bad philosophers as well as a few good ones. He m o r a l
iz e s in the V ictorian fashion. His w ritings read like what they w ere,
speeches in an o ra to ric a l style which include m any repetitions and
ex hortatio ns. The m eat of M ann's thought has to be ex tracted from
the verbiage.
Mann w as not a g rea t innovator in philosophy. He c re ate d an
effective p e rso n al and public philosophy, how ever, which was im p o r
tan t in two w ays: it form ed his goals, and it becam e an effective in
stru m e n t in achieving them . It is difficult to say which o ccu rred
f ir s t. The two a re functionally and recip ro cally in te rre la te d .
M ann's creativ e contribution was that he was able to fill the
vacuum c reated by the inability of C alvinism to solve the problem s of
d em o cracy and education. C alvinism had outlasted its usefulness.
Until M ann's attack on it, it was the m ajo r philosophy in New England.
69
70
Psychology was not separate from philosophy as yet. In
Horace Mann, we find a development of philosophical psychology as
related to dem ocracy and education. He gave this a color, a tone,
i
that no one else was able to provide. Among the psychological p rin
ciples developed by Mann was the idea that fear and discom fort do not
prom ote learning. These contributions a re p art of Mann's philosophy
in the sam e sense that the psychological principles of Locke, B erk e
ley and Hume w ere a p art of their philosophies.
Mann never set down his general philosophy in one, or even
in a se rie s, of system atic philosophic w orks. He was, however, a
m an who philosophized in everything he said. It is possible to find
and describe his philosophical position as it appears in his Twelve
R eports, his Serm ons D elivered at Antioch College, M ary Mann's
Life and Works of Horace Mann, and in his speeches in Congress, as
S ecretary of the Board of Education, and as P resident of Antioch Col
lege.
Horace Mann was religious as w ere D escartes, Spinoza, and
B erkeley. As with these philosophers, M ann's conception of the na
ture of God is an integral p art of his philosophy. Mann felt that he
was a C hristian, but, for him, the essence of C hristianity was e th i
cal. It is contained, for example, in the Ten Commandments, the
Golden Rule, the Beatitudes, and the ethical exam ples given by C hrist
and other Biblical c h arac ters. Mann rejected any sectarian C h ris
tianity such as Calvinism .
According to M ary Mann he had m ost of these ideas before he
read the phrenologists (45:1:59). There is, however, no doubt that he
71
felt G eorge Combe had advanced m o st of the philosophical principles
with which he agreed in the Constitution_of_Man. Mann read Combe
when he was p reparing to becom e active as S e c re ta ry of the M a ss a
chusetts State B oard of Education.
The phrenologists w ere attem pting to adapt C h ristian ity to d e
velopm ents in science. They w ere in te reste d in uniting the ethical
a sp ec ts of C hristianity and the scientific analysis of the laws of n a
tu re .
Mann, also, was in te re ste d in bringing science and religion
together. This is the m ain them e of his "Dem ands of the Age on C ol
leges, " an ad d re ss he delivered before the C h ristian Convention in
C incinnati, Ohio, in 1854 (51:267-318). In this speech Mann says that
science had to b rea k with religion during the age of the g re a t sc ien tif
ic innovations sparked by C opernicus, K epler, Galileo, and Newton.
He feels that the b re a k between science and religion was n e c e ssa ry
because of the a u th o rita rian positions taken by religious o rg a n iz a
tions which attem pted to stifle scientific developm ent.
Mann feels that the union of science and religion is im portant.
He feels that science without hum an values is blind and that human
values a re fundam entally to be found im bedded in religion.
Religion, for Mann, is inadequate, by itself, to guide m en in
th e ir se a rc h for T ru th o r the Good Life. T his, he feels, is so b e
cause science is an activity of m an by which he d isco v ers the laws of
nature. Mann feels that science and religion a re speaking of the sam e
un iv erse and that they supplem ent and aid one another. In this way
they deepen our understanding of the w orld in which we live.
72
This unity cannot, how ever, take place if it is to be a unity b e
tw een science and any se c ta ria n religion. Such a unity is im possible,
because, for Mann, a se c ta ria n religion has prejudged the issu e s
which science has to investigate. Mann feels that the religion which
can achieve this unity with science is one which is based on a c ertain
feeling about the w orld. As M cCluskey points out, "It is c le a r that
Mann did not identify religion with any kind of creed o r covenant"
(46:43).
M ann's religious attitude does not involve going to church s e r
vices, relian ce on blind authority, o r a belief in m ir a c le s -- a ll of
which w ere comm on to m any sects in the f ir s t half of the nineteenth
century. Mann consid ers h im self a devout C hristian, but his in te r
p retatio n of C hristianity is that it is com pletely an ethical sy stem of
beliefs. Mann felt that the Bible was the w ord of God, but that it had
to be in te rp reted by each individual without the intervention of any
e c c le sia s tic a l authority. The lesso n s to be found in the Bible w ere
those which involved us in the love of our fellowm en, according to
Mann. Mann was c riticized fo r failing to attend church while he was
trav ellin g for the State B oard of Education. He ignored the c ritic ism .
Mann is alw ays looking for points in C h ristianity upon which
everyone can agree. He feels that, if these can be found, they will
be points upon which all other religions will probably ag re e. T hese,
then, could be the b a sis of a n o n -se cta ria n religion. They would be
points on which all sects could ag ree. T hese would all be ethically-
oriented concepts.
Mann does not hope that he can get actual ag reem en t on these
73
points, though he takes the position that such ag reem ent is the ra tio n
al way to approach and understand religion. If such a n o n -se c ta ria n
religion is developed, it can be united with science.
Mann points out that "scien ce is non se cta ria n . It does not
confine itse lf to any segm ent of the c irc le of philosophic tru th but
seeks to em b race the e n tire c irc u m fe re n c e . At the p re s e n t day, a
bigot in science cannot live" (51:313). Science has gained its f r e e
dom so that "it now walks with nature" (51:317). It, th e re fo re , c a n
not be expected to unify with any religion which "still hugs its chains"
(51:317).
Living in an age when Newtonian physics was the queen of the
scien ces, Mann thinks the various scien ces give us absolute know l
edge of re a lity in a re a s w here investigation has been pushed far
enough. Our knowledge of the w orld is not com plete, but while e v
erything is not known, everything we can investigate is knowable.
Mann could be called a re a lis t in that he felt we ex perience the
external w orld d irectly . He says th at we believe in the existence of
"a m a te ria l universe outside of o u rse lv es" on "the evidence of the
sen ses, and of reaso n " (43:14).
F o r Mann th e re was no problem of knowledge as it was se t up
for m odern philosophy by D e s c a rte s ' sep aratio n of m ind and body into
two se p ara te substances. Mann held that the subject and the object
w ere se p ara te, but that the "knowing" subject could know the "know-
able" object. This was a m a tte r of d ire c t experience and of reasoning
about that experience. The w orld is exactly as the sc ie n tist tells us
it is. The changes we find in the w orld a re reg u la r changes which
74
o ccu r according to laws which science can d isco v er.
Mann is v e ry s a rc a s tic about anyone who takes the skeptical
o r the so lip sistic position about our knowledge of the objective w orld.
"P eople, " he says
who do not believe in the existence of anything outside themselves*
o r in the existence of anything which is not th em selv es, a re com
m only considered the subjects of m edical trea tm e n t, b efore they
becom e the subjects of syllogistic o r argum entative tre a tm e n t.
(43:14)
It is from the evidence of the sen ses and re a so n that we have
a lso developed beliefs about o ther m inds and the existence of God.
"All m en . . . a re alike in having the conception of a Deity they con
ceive of" (43:19).
People can and do in te rp re t th e ir exp erien ces very d iffe re n t
ly. Mann feels th at these various in te rp retatio n s of experience often
lead to rad ically different concepts of God. He illu stra te s th is point.
"How different, " he com m ents
is the geolo gist's idea of God, when he se e s in the g re a t s tra ta of
the e a rth an illum ined volum e, all pictured with proofs of power,
w isdom , and goodness, --how different, I say, is his idea of God,
fro m that of a P re sid e n t of a c e rta in Southern college, who p ro
fe sse s to believe that the bones of the m astadon, shells, sh a rk 's
teeth, trib o lits, and other fo ssil rem a in s of p read am itic ages,
w ere sc a tte re d about by God at the tim e of creation, only as a
puzzle fo r the hum an ra c e , and to see how m uch nonsense men
would believe fo r his glory. (43:20)
Mann holds as did D e sc a rte s, that God would not deceive us.
Thus we have c ertain ty in our knowledge of the existence of the o b jec
tive w orld and o th er m inds. Our knowledge of the natu re of God is
not in any way com plete, how ever. Mann believes that our finite
m ind could not "com prehend and em b race the infinite" (43:20).
The m o re we know of the w orld, how ever, the m ore we know
75
of God.
E very step in education, the inculcation of every new idea, the
acquisition of every new scientific principle, the development and
training of each intellectual and m o ral faculty, furnishes precious
m ateria ls out of which a m ore adequate and glorious idea of God
can be form ed. (43:36)
Since everyone has a different background, learned m en and
unlearned m en m ust have different conceptions of God in the sam e
way that they would have different conceptions from experiencing a
perform ance of a Shakespearean dram a or a symphony by M ozart.
Mann feels that these differences do not mean that m en cannot be
"alike in th eir affections. Love m ust be the sam e in all w orlds" (43:
25).
Mann feels that love of God is the "point of conform ity, of
uniform ity, of identity even, among m en in other resp ects antagonis
tic and antipodal" (43:25). "No two m en, " he continues, "can picture
out God in thoughts that shall exactly m atch each other, as a cubic
foot in space is like another cubic foot of space, o r as a right angle is
like another right angle; but all can love the God whom they conceive"
(43:25). T herefore, he concludes, the unity which can exist among
the w orshippers of God, "is a unity of Spirit" (43:27). This is one
aspect of religion on which all m en can agree.
Mann Bays that each m an 's concept of God com es from ideas
in his own mind since this is the only way men can form a conception.
"Is it said, " he asks
that God m ade man in his own im age? It is no le ss true that m an
m akes God in his image. Hence the ascending scale in the a t t r i
butes of God, as they are conceived by the low est savage, by the
enlightened heathen, o r by the C hristian philosopher. (43:34)
76
It should be noted that Mann is not saying that any of these con-
| ceptions a re wrong; they a re m ere ly incom plete. It would be an e r r o r
to say that one o r another conception is the com pletely tru e conception
of God o r that anyone's conception was wrong. All conceptions a re
incom plete, as we cannot com pletely know the infinite nature of God.
In M ann's thought as we know m o re and m ore about the u niv erse, we
a re learning m ore and m o re about God. "Knowledge, " states Mann,
"en te rs larg ely and essen tially into the tru e idea of a C hristian and
the highest type of C h ristian cannot exist without it" (43:38). Mann
feels that while we can say we have reached the highest point in our
knowledge of the universe and, th erefo re, of God so far, each new
generation will have a new contribution to m ake to our total concep
tion of God.
Mann asks what attributes the "w isest and best m en concur in
ascrib ing to God" (43:38). T heir ideas of God ag ree in certain a re a s .
Mann feels that these m en ag ree that God is eternal, omnipotent,
om niscent, all pervasive, and just, God has one m ore c h a ra c te ristic
which He does not have as an attribute, for it is God: God is Love.
M ary Mann says of H orace Mann on this point:
All nature becam e full of revealings to him, --re v e a lin g s of
beneficent laws, of overflowing love: nothing in it seem ed triv ia l
to him ; fo r everything had been an object of divine thought, from
the hum blest flow er, or even stone, to the m ost distant s ta r.
And, while he loved with an unutterable love the beauty God had
m ade, the revelations of science w ere sc arc ely le ss sa cre d to
him than the revelations of m o ral truth; and they w ere illu strativ e
of each other in his teachings. (45:I:vii)
When Mann says that God is Love, he is also saying that God
is Good. This is illu strativ e of his rejection of the C alvinist training
77
he received in his youth. M ary Mann quotes Horace Mann as saying
"If I believed in total depravity, I m ust, of course, believe in e v e r
lasting punishment; but I consider both unworthy of God" (45:I:vi).
Here it can be seen that Mann rejects completely the Calvinist p o si
tion that man was born utterly depraved.
M ann's conception of God as all pervasive Love is close to the
pantheistic conception of God. This appears again in Mann's idea of
the laws which God as Law -giver has created. We have a tendency
to personify Law and speak of it as if it had a separate existence or
power. Mann notes, "In scientific strictn ess, God's law means sim
ply the mode in which God acts" (43:62).
This conception of God is very sim ilar to that of Spinoza. So,
also, is Mann's statem ent that no one can re s ist or change these laws
which a re "the mode in which God acts. " Violations of these laws
m erely m ean that the violator autom atically suffers the consequences
of his actions whatever these may be in any specific instance.
Mann, further, feels that all the details in the universe have
been purposefully worked out by God. He lived in the era of the bio
logical sciences before D arwin's publication of the Origin of the Spe
cies in 1859. John Dewey in his article entitled "The Influence of
Darwinism on Philosophy, " says that p rio r to Darwin the teleological
conception of the universe which stem m ed from A ristotle was the p r e
vailing point of view. Every living being was viewed from the point of
view of its final cause. And the universe, as a whole, was viewed
teleologically. Each species was thought of as having been created as
it is. The conception of species evolving from other species was not
78
even considered. D arw in's conceptions of chance variations and n a t
u ra l selection as causally determ ining facto rs in the changes involved
between species and within a p a rtic u la r species w ere profoundly d if
feren t fro m the usual pre-D arw inian conceptions (57;135-142),
Dewey feels that the logic of D arw in's position should force
all la te r thinkers to give up any conceptions of a teleological universe.
Mann, however, died the y ear that the Origin of the Species w as pub
lished. He still held to the teleological position com m on among s c i
entists of his day. This is one reason that m any of his form ulations
sound arch aic to us.
Mann says that we a re living in a universe w here "God's laws
a re uniform " (43:67). The laws we discover operative on e arth a re
the sam e throughout the universe.
Mann feels that from God's point of view th e re a re no m ir a
cles. God foresaw and p re -a rra n g e d everything. "A m ira cle , "
Mann says, "is to us a su pernatural event" (43:67). We do not honor
God at all when we think of God as constantly working m ira c le s.
Many people seem to think they honor God m o re, by
supposing that He is constantly working m ira c le s, constantly
interfering and w resting the o rd e r of nature, to prevent som e
evil, or to effect some good, than by believing that He e sta b
lished an o rd e r of nature so perfect at firs t th at it needs no in
terfe re n c e . Suppose one clockm aker w ere to m ake you a clock
that should keep such im perfect tim e as to req u ire him to come
to your house every day to set it and re p a ir it. Suppose another
to m ake you a clock so perfect that it would run fo r y ears without
e r r o r . Which of the two would be the b est clockm aker? (43:68)
M ann's point h ere is, perhaps, obvious. God does not have to
in te rfere continually with the workings of the universe, because it
was m ade to run perfectly. This concept of God is sim ila r to that of
| 7 9
! D e sc artes. F or D escartes, once the act of creation is over, and God,
|
who would not deceive us, has perform ed the function of guaranteeing
knowledge, He is no longer needed to explain what is going on in the
universe. These explanations can be found through the work of sci-
I ence.
Mann does not draw these im plications. The concept of God
is still n ecessary because it is the source of our m oral values. Mann
does draw another conclusion from his argum ent. He says that we
cannot conceive of God being anything lower than the "best clock
m ak er. " This im plies, Mann feels, that "ignorance is one of the
m ain causes of the belief that God is constantly w resting the o rd er of
nature" (43:68). As science has advanced there has been a d ecrease
in the belief in m ira cle s.
The reg u larities of nature are not changed by God a rb itra rily ,
and they cannot be changed by men. Mann calls them "absolutes. "
The m ore man knows of these reg u la ritie s--th e laws of natu re--th e
g re a te r is his knowledge of God and the better and m ore purposeful
will be his conduct. In one sense, Mann is saying that science and
religion cannot be separated.
F o r Mann, they are not separate when we do get at the Truth.
The "T ruth" is spelled with a capital "T" by Mann when he is speaking
of this knowledge of Absolutes; this knowledge of the laws of nature.
It is M ann's view that it is n e ce ssa ry to know these laws of
nature for m en to live at all. A pro gressively better life can be the
resu lt of the extension of m an's knowledge of these reg u larities in
nature. The accumulation and dissem ination of knowledge is, for
j 80
i Mann, central to the survival of the human ra c e . And it is the key
I
: instrum ent m an can use in p ro g ressin g to a higher level of life.
Mann views knowledge as an instrum ent. Knowledge is a tool
used by m en to secu re a b e tter life. It is in terestin g to find that John
H erm an Randall speaks of A ristotle as a functionalist in his book
titled A risto tle , which utilizes new scholarly analyses of the g reat
knower.
Like A ristotle, Mann holds that "m an is a rational anim al"
with the capacity fo r knowing and reasoning. Without this rationality
hum ans could not understand th eir world.
Teleologically, Mann understands e v ery p ro ce ss in te rm s of
its function.
Mann rejects dogm atism . The laws of nature a re discovered
by use of the senses and of reason. Thinking that the w orld has c e r
tain c h a ra c te ristic s w ill not m ake it so, as som e idealists seem to
think. To find out what kind of a w orld it is re q u ire s the m ethods of
; science.
Mann feels that science gives "T ruth" to hum an beings to
w hatever extent it is com plete. T h ere is n ev er any guarantee that
scientific inform ation gives com plete knowledge of the external w orld.
Many new fields of science w ere opening up during M ann's lifetim e.
What was still to be learned was plainly g re a te r than what was already
known. This did not invalidate what was known.
In his characterizatio n of the kind of w orld we live in and our
relationship to it, Mann is concerned with the sam e problem which
has in terested philosophers in European culture since the days of the
! p re -S o c ra tic s, H eraclitus and P arm en id es. That is the relationship
!
! between perm anence and change: What is perm anent and what is
changing in any a re a being investigated? What rem ains unchanging
through periods of change? A re th ere re g u la ritie s, perm anences, in
the actual changes th em selv es? A re th e re pattern s and relationships
which we can say rem ain constant in the changing situations being
studied?
These a re all form s of the sam e m ajo r problem . Mann d is
cu sses in this problem when he is speaking of the "laws of nature, "
of "absolutes" and of "T ruth. "
Mann m akes the distinction between knowledge of the world
and the w orld that is known. This world is not changed by the ep is-
tem ological relationship. The perm anences that we find in the world
a re th ere . They a re described by what Mann calls Absolute T ruths.
These a re his "laws of nature. " They d escrib e objective causal r e
lationships to be found in nature. Mann does not, however, think that
the exact form ulation of these laws of nature can be prejudged. We
have to have the evidence of the sen ses and of reason before we can
m ake any a sse rtio n s which a re w arran ted .
Mann com m ents on changes which take place in m any a re a s .
The physical sciences like ch em istry and geology and the develop
m ents in e le ctricity since D r. F ra n k lin 's d isco v eries a re favorite
exam ples used by Mann. He is also in terested in changes which took
place in the h isto ry of m ankind. The m ethods developed by science
a re ideally suited to seeking and finding the explanations fo r the r e l a
tionships between perm anence and change in any a re a investigated.
I 82
Mann is open to new evidence and new th eo ries. In this sense,
he is no absolutist. Science, Mann feels, is not sectarian . Science
does not hold to a position on a se cta ria n b asis, rejecting new e v i
dence which m ight force a revision of a p a rtic u la r theory. This hold
ing to a theory irresp e ctiv e of the evidence and the rational analysis
of the evidence was, for Mann, the m ain c h a ra c te ristic of t h e s e c t a r -
: ian position.
i
In another sense of the word Absolute, Mann was an Absolutist.
' He agreed with alm ost all the scientists of his day that in the a re a of
Newtonian physics, for instance, the scien tists had hold of "Absolute
T ruth. " This sam e position w as taken by the p re-D arw inian biolo
g ists. Our knowledge m ay not be com plete in any field, but what we
do know, we know as Absolute T ruth. This was in the philosophic
tradition of Absolute Idealism which was very strong in M ann's tim e.
M ann's theory, at tim es, com es very close to that of Spinoza.
Spinoza held that the universe was com pletely determ ined. The m o re
we lea rn about the universe, the m ore we know about the laws of n a
tu re, the m ore we realize that every event has a cause. E very cause
can be seen, also, to have a cause. The only way to understand the
universe according to Spinoza, is to understand it as com pletely d e
term ined. We, as human, a re only wise, in Spinoza's sense, if we
can look at finite situations fro m the point of view of God. Viewing
the w orld "sub specie aeternitatus, " under the aspect of eternity, is
Spinoza's way of saying it.
Mann never goes this whole way, but the logic of his d e te r
m inism seem s to lead this way. If God is Love and Love is pervasive,
83
then everything in the universe is really an aspect of God and all
events are modes of God's actions which, from our point of view, are
com pletely determ ined. The only freedom men have is when they un
derstand the laws of nature, and operate within these laws. Mann
feels that it is fallacious to think that we can change these laws of na
ture, o r that we can violate them with impunity. H ere, it can be seet\
that Mann is restating one of H egel's basic positions: that freedom is
the recognition of necessity. This is a way of applying to human af
fairs the generalization that change can only be understood as in ti
m ately related to perm anence. This relationship will be traced in
m ore detail in the chapter on Mann's social philosophy.
Mann's Personal Value Theory
"Act, " states Kant, "so as to use humanity, whether in your
own person or in the person of another, always as an end, never as
m ere ly a m eans" (57:387).
This statem ent of the Categorical Im perative sums up Mann's
personal value theory in one sentence. Mann was a m o ralist who s e ri
ously expected to act in such a way that his actions could be u niv er
salized. He respected each person as having intrinsic value and
would never condone using others as m eans ra th e r than ends. This
: Mann felt applied to the teach er in the schoolroom as well as the po
litical leader in a legislature. There were many m oral rules which
Mann derived from this basic im perative.
Mann attem pted to approach all problem s in as rational a m an
ner as possible. He knew that he was never able to throw off com
pletely his early Calvinist training. But he never wished to approach
84
any problem by appealing to fe a r. This was p a rtic u la rly tru e m his
approach to children. They w ere to be tre a te d as p erso n s in th e ir
own right and never as m eans for the aggrandizem ent o r em otional
satisfaction of the te a c h e r.
Mann had a golden rule for fun also. "T hat only is tru e fun
which is fun for both sid e s" (51:467). He extended this to athletic
com petition. He was opposed to any fo rm of athletic com petition
I
which would "test the com parative skill of the p lay ers, for that would
: be to aro u se a sp irit of com petition and to encourage an uncom m end-
able strife fo r victory" (51:467). On a vacation with his own and a
frie n d 's fam ily, Mann and his friend rented a bowling alley fo r the
su m m er. Mann ag reed to the venture as long as it w ere understood
that bowling was to be for e x e rc ise only. Each player "was sim ply
to ex ercise his m u sc le s without refe re n c e to what the m uscles of the
o th er was accom plishing" (51:475).
I
All of M ann's involvem ent in the various p ro g ressiv e m o v e
m ents of his tim e, w ere e x p ressio n s of his w ell developed conscience
and w ere based upon his serio u s adherence to the golden rule in all
its fo rm s.
Mann was not in te re ste d in achieving m onetary su ccess or
political fam e. A c h a ra c te ristic position of his was one he w rites of
in his Jo u rn a l. He is speaking of his new position as S e c re ta ry of
the Board of Education. He has been s u rp rise d that m o st of his
frien d s, asking him about his position, f ir s t inquire about the sa la ry
o r the "honor of the station. " He feels the "inherent dignity of m y
new office" and is not w o rried if the title does not c a r r y c ertain out-
ward m arks of respect. "If the title is not sufficiently honorable
' now, then it is clearly left for m e to elevate it; and I had ra th e r be
i creditor than debtor to the title" (45:1:85). Mann never took a position
i
or, for that m atter, a law case on the basis of the salary or the fee
involved. His one basic rule as a law yer was never to take a case
unless he w as convinced his client was m orally right. This rule was
: one which Mann him self thought should be universalized. He felt that
i
in this way hardened crim inals would not be able to get legal council.
This position of Mann's is not that accepted by the legal profession,
but it was one he thought was very im portant. In this situation, of
course, it would be necessary for the lawyer to be incorruptible. The
lawyer, in effect, would be prejudging the case. Mann felt that the
lawyer was able to do this better than anyone else in m ost situations.
Mann never felt that the courtroom should be used as a place
where two law yers w ere involved in a contest to see which one could
best the other irrespective of the m erits of the case. He followed his
own injunctions so well that he won alm ost all his cases, and his c li
ents knew th at if he took their case, he really thought they were right
and could win for them .
Mann felt that men should be judged on the basis of their a c
tions m ore than th eir words. He applied the rule to him self as well
as to others and used his evaluations of his own actions as a continual
spur to fu rth er effort. In this sense, he was a perfectionist and was
continually se lf-c ritic a l of his own work.
Mann felt that personal feelings w ere very im portant. He took
seriously the Biblical injunctions of loving his neighbor. This was
j 86
! p a rt of his feelings of the w orth of each human being. F o r Mann, this
feeling of sympathy was always tran slated into action if he felt he
could do anything to help som eone. This was in back of his work with
the insane, his work in the an ti-slav ery m ovem ent, and his lifetim e
w ork for the education and em ancipation of women.
H orace Mann was a joyful person. He had a great capacity
for enjoyment; a zest for life. He had com passion, imagination, and
em pathy. These c h a ra c te ristic s are revealed in his le tte rs and w ere
always present in his fam ily life and his in ter-p erso n al relationships.
He had a great capacity for leadership. Mann did not set out to be a
politician. The various public positions he had w ere always the r e
sults of requests by various friends and citizens. He was always
drafted into his political positions.
M ann's m oral leadership received public recognition when he
; was asked to take the place of John Quincy Adams in C ongress. It's
alm ost im possible for us to imagine the m oral prestige of the ex
p resid ent who sat as a m em ber of Congress for so long and who was
the lead er of the a n ti-slav e ry forces in the House of R epresentatives.
The n e arest our generation can come to imagining it would be to
think of the m o ral prestige of E leanor Roosevelt, who was a symbol
of the courage and com passion of the 1930's in much the sam e m anner
that John Quincy Adams was a symbol of the m o ral and intellectual
leadersh ip of the founding fathers of the United States. That Mann
was asked to take A dam s' place in C ongress, after his death, was an
indication of the very w ide-spread resp ect for Mann.
M ann's appearance to the re s t of the world was very much
" " ...... 87
what he intended and what he really was. This was an indication of
i his very high intelligence and his ability to think clearly and logically,
i Half a century before Freud, he recognized that his childhood e x p eri
ences m ight have crippled his judgment, and he never forgot to take
these experiences into consideration. Mann was in no sense what we
now call an alienated person. In spite of many heartbreaking events
in his life, he rem ained a happy and effective human being.
CHAPTER V
SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY
It is im possible to separate M ann's ethical concepts, in any
s tric t sense, from his political and educational philosophy. "Social
philosophy" ex p resses these subjects as Mann habitually considered
them .
Mann holds that politics is a p art of ethics. Each political or
social act can be ch aracterized as good or bad on the basis of objec
tive ethical standards which men can know. The social role of educa
tion is two-fold: first to teach m en what is right and what is wrong,
and second, to help individuals develop habits which enable them to
act rightly. M ann's educational philosophy stem s directly from his
ethical position. In general, M ann's ideas can be reduced to the fo l
lowing basic principles.
Ethical Concepts
Rapport with the Laws of N ature
Horace Mann feels that the goal of each m an should be to
achieve rapport between his actions and the laws of nature. The laws
of nature, for Mann, a re God's law s. As he says, "God's laws a re
re s is tle s s . . . if He has attached pain and early decrepitude to glut-
88
I 8 9
! tony and in tem p eran ce, can you detach them so as to com m it the of-
j
fence and still escape the penalty?"' (43:63). Mann answ ers this q u e s
tion by saying that th ese law s a re "accom panied by a sanction . . .
for exam ple the penalty that attends tra n s g re s s io n . No hum an law
can execute itself. But G od's laws execute th em se lv e s" (43:74).
Mann is e x p re ssin g the Stoic concept of the laws of nature as
they w ere adapted by C h ristian ity . T hese laws a re not like our m od
e rn concept of scientific law s, such a s, the law of gravitation. Mann,
how ever, included both kinds of law s of nature in his concept. A s c i
entific law, such as the law of gravitation, cannot be broken; it is
u n iv ersally binding w hether one w ishes to cooperate with it or not.
Any attem pt to b rea k it is im m ediately fru stra te d , as it is alw ays
operative. F u rth e rm o re , it is a pu rely d escrip tiv e and n o n -m o ral
law. The o th er m eaning involved in the te rm the "law s of nature"
com bines a d e scrip tiv e and a m o ral law. F o r the Stoics and the
C h ristia n s, th ese law s of nature a re u n iv ersal standards which one is
obliged to obey only by his reaso n and his conscience. B ehavior is
not com pulsory. Human beings only follow them to the extent that
they com prehend them and w ish to a ct in accord w ith them . A c c o rd
ing to the Stoics, th ese laws a re not m an -m ad e o r a rb itra ry . They
a re e te rn a l and u n iv ersal, and they can be d iscovered by m en. They
a re im bedded in m a n 's nature and the nature of the world. They in d i
cate the "ought" in the m o ra l sense. They can be violated but not
with im punity. They c a rr y th e ir own sanctions in the sense th at in
violating them , m en violate th e ir own nature and that of the w orld in
which they live and so m u st suffer the consequences.
""......_ 90
Mann u ses the te rm "law s of natu re" in both w ays. F o r him
the laws of nature a re both scientifically and m o rally im portant. They
can be found by science and when we know of them , we rationally
"ought" to obey them . F u rth e r, as w ith the Stoics, Mann thought they
w ere signs of the fundam ental ratio n al nature of the univ erse.
This concept of natural laws led to the concept of natural
rig h ts. These Stoic concepts could have been read in the original
| Latin of C icero by Mann in his y e a rs at Brown U niversity. W hether
he read them in C icero or not, they w ere in the C h ristian and p o liti
cal trad itio n in which he m atu red . They w ere rev ised by th e o rists of
the seventeenth and eighteenth cen tu ries like Locke, Paine, and J e f
ferson, who set the intellectual stage for the A m erican and F re n c h
R evolutions. And they w ere in co rp o rated into the D eclaration of In
dependence and the B ill of Rights of the Constitution.
H orace Mann w as acutely aw are of the possible conflict b e
tween m e n 's actions and the laws of nature. He says that if the u n i
v e rse "is pervaded by the laws of God, then, in o rd e r to do the will
of God, we m u st know what His laws a re " (43:75).
Since, according to Mann, it is n e c e ssa ry to know th ese laws
of n ature, they m ust be knowable. Even if m en know these law s,
they m ay still com m it e ith er good o r evil. They only have free
choice when they have knowledge of the laws of n ature. The choice
m ust be free to be m o rally m eaningful.
H ere Mann specifically re je c ts the C alvinism in which he was
raised . This rejectio n of C alvinism is a dom inating them e in M ann's
life. Evil, says Mann, is not a necessity. He rejected the doctrine
| of original sin, which, fro m the C alvinist point of view, condem ned
J i
! som e m en to com m it evil. Mann feels that evil in any form is m a n 's
w o rse enem y and that the only way to overcom e it is through ed u ca
tion. It is through education that m en can know the law s of nature and
can th ereb y choose to w ork within them .
Infinite Im provability of Man
H orace Mann feels that m an is infinitely im provable. M ary
Mann points out in h e r biography of h e r husband that this w as the
m ain tenet of his valedictorian a d d re ss at Brow n U niversity. This
a d d re ss was entitled the " P ro g re s s iv e C h a ra c te r of the Human Race"
(45:1:28). M ary Mann says, "T his was his favo rite them e all through
life, the b asis of all his action in education and in politics" (45:1:28).
M ann's own w ords confirm th is statem ent. On the occasion of a c
cepting the S e c re ta ry sh ip of the State B oard of Education, for e x am
ple, Mann w rote in his Journal
H enceforth, so long as I hold th is office, I devote m y self to the
su p re m ist w elfare of m ankind upon e arth . - -W ith the highest d e
g re e of p ro sp e rity , re s u lts w ill m an ifest th em selv es but slowly.
The h a rv e st is fa r d istan t from the seed tim e. F aith is the only
su sta in e r. I have faith in the im p rovability of the ra c e , - -in th e ir
a cc elera tin g im provability. (45:1:81)
Not only is m an infinitely im provable, but m an has been ste a d
ily im proving in m any w ays. Mann cites the developm ents in in d u s
try , various inventions and so forth as one aspects of im provem ent
and the developm ent of the A m erican form of d em o cracy as another.
It should be noted that Mann feels that, since m an w as in fin ite
ly im provable, he also had the p o ssib ility of degenerating. One field
w here Mann fee ls that m en have d egenerated is in the a re a of health.
92
In his "Dedicatory and Inaugural A ddress" delivered at Antioch C ol
lege in 1853, he goes into this point in detail (51:201-16). He gives a
lengthy analysis of the degeneracy in the physical health of mankind
from the time of Adam to the present. This stem s, he is convinced,
from the fact that m en have consistently refused to follow the natural
laws of physiology.
So universal and long-continued have been the violations of the
physical laws, and so om nipresent is human suffering as the con
sequence, that the very tradition of a perfect state of health has
died out among men. --U niversity p rofessors know how to take
care of the solar system , but do not know how to take care of
their own system s. (51:202)
God could not be held responsible for creating such human
beings as we find now, Mann feels, plagued by d iseases of all so rts.
He points to the Book of Genesis for his proof. It was w ritten, he
says, without "the false delicacy of m odern tim es" and so "did not
forbid the mention of whatever was done or suffered" (51:203). Indeed
over all that expanse of tim e --fo r m ore than one-third part of the
duration of the human rac e--n o t a single instance is recorded of
a child born blind, or deaf, or dumb, or idiotic or m alform ed in
any way. During the whole period not a single case of a natural
death in infancy, or childhood, or early manhood, or even of
middle manhood, is to be found. Not one man or woman died of
disease. The sim ple record is, "And he died"; or, he died "in a
good old age and full of y ears"; or, he was "old and full of days. "
No epidemic, nor even endemic disease prevailed, showing that
they died the natural death of healthy men and not the unnatural
death of distem pered ones. --Bodily pain from disease is nowhere
mentioned. No cholera infantum, scarlatina, m easles, sm all
pox--not even a toothache. So extraordinary a thing was it for a
son to die before his father, that an instance of it is deemed
worthy of special notice. (51:203-204)
Mann's m ajor point is that human beings m ust have been very
strong when created to have withstood all the violations of physiologi
cal laws to which we have subjected ourselves. In o rd er to rev erse
the process of physical degeneration, Mann feels we m ust educate
93
people about the n atu ral law s of physiology.
The infinite im provab ility of m an is thus seen as a possibility.
T his po ssib ility can only be achieved through education in e v ery field
w here m en have knowledge of the law s of natu re. Mann is h e re speak
ing in A risto telian te r m s . T h ere is, in m en, the potential to achieve
c e rta in goals. Achieving th ese goals is im proving. This potential
can be actualized. In this p ro c e ss of actualization, the efficient cause
is education in the laws of natu re. In the c ase of health th ese law s of
n a tu re a re the specific law s of physiology which the science of p h y s
iology d isc o v ers in investigating its chosen a re a .
H appiness as a Goal
H orace Mann looked upon the achievem ent of happiness as the
m ain goal fo r all m en. In his "A Few Thoughts fo r a Young Man, " a
le c tu re he d eliv ered b efore the B oston M ercantile L ib ra ry A ssociation
in 1849, he m akes the following com m ents.
I begin, with the postulate, that it is the law of our n atu re to
d e s ire happiness. This law is not local, but u n iv ersal; not t e m
p o ra ry , but e te rn a l. It is not a law to be proved by exceptions,
fo r it knows no exception. The savage and the m a rty r w elcom e
fie rc e pains, not because they love pain; but b ecause they love
som e expected rem u n e ratio n of happiness so w ell, that they a re
willing to p u rch ase it at the p ric e of the p a in ;--a t the p ric e of
im p riso n m en t, to rtu re , o r death. The young d e sire happiness
m o re keenly than any o th ers. This d e s ire is innate, spontaneous,
exuberant; and nothing but rep e ate d and rep eated overflow s of the
lava of disappointm ent can burn o r b u ry it in th e ir b r e a s ts . On
this law of our n atu re, then, we m ay stand as on an im m ovable
foundation of tru th . W hatever fortune m ay befall our argum ent,
our p re m is e s a re se c u re . The conscious d e s ire of happiness is
active in all m en. Its objects a re easily conceivable by all m en.
But, alas! tow ards what d ifferen t points of m o ra l com pass do
m en look fo r th ese objects, and expect to find them . Some look
for happiness above, and som e below; som e in the g ran d eu r of the
soul, and som e in the g ro s s n e s s of the sense; som e in the heaven
of purity, and som e in the hell of lic en tio u sn e ss. W h erev er it is
94
looked fo r, the imagination adorns it with all its glowing colors.
Multitudes of those who seek for happiness will not obtain the ob
ject of th e ir search, because they seek it am iss. Deceived by
false ideas of its nature, other m ultitudes, who obtain the object
of their search, will find it to be so rrow not job, - -Dead Sea ap
ples, and not celestial fru its.
W hether a young m an shall reap pleasure or pain from winning
the objects of his choice, depends, not only upon his wisdom or
folly in selecting those objects, but upon the right or wrong m eth
ods by which he pursu es them . Hence, a knowledge of what to
select and how to pursue, is as n e ce ssa ry to the highest happi
ness as virtue itself. Virtue is an angel, but she is a blind one,
and m ust ask of knowledge to show h e r the pathway that leads to
h e r goal. M ere knowledge, on the other hand, like a Swiss m e r
cenary, is ready to com bat either in the ranks of sin or under
the banner of righteousness; ready to forge cannonballs o r to
print New T estam ents; to navigate a c o rs a ir's vessel or a m is
sio n ary 's ship. (39:7-8)
Mann feels that m en are responsible for th eir own condition,
and they can do something about it. Only if they know the laws of n a
ture involved and if they a re so disposed that they wish to do so m e
thing about im proving th eir condition, however, can this occur. To
achieve happiness, a man m ust achieve m axim um health and enough
of "a com petance" so that he has no economic wants. He m ust have
developed both his intellectual and m o ral nature by the developments
of good habits. The development of these good habits is the m ajo r
function of education.
Mann feels that m en are fundam entally good. He rejects the
Calvinist doctrine of original sin. Men m ay be corrupted by other
men and/or by adverse conditions. No m an is born corrupted, and no
m an is damned at birth. Mann feels, very strongly, that men can b e
come the kind of people they wish to becom e if they have the opp or
tunities, the training, and the knowledge to take advantage of th eir
opportunities.
95
However, Mann feels, a com m itm ent of the good is neither
innate nor autom atic. One has to le a rn to know the good. The good
act, for Mann, is any act which leads to the developm ent of m an 's
potential. E very action directed tow ard the goal of m aking m an b e t
te r is good, and the re v e rse action is bad. The good act is, th e r e
fo re, objective, and can be discovered and understood. The ultim ate
goal, never achieved but always to be sought, is the perfected m an
who would be one who is using all his faculties under the guidance of
reaso n and in harm ony with the laws of nature in achieving the Good.
The Good includes the well being of the individual and all his fellow -
m en. It is a Social Good and can only be achieved by m en working
together in harm ony.
The A ristotelian idea of potentiality and actuality is what
H orace Mann speaks of in this context. In speaking of natural law,
Mann is following Stoic philosophy strain ed through C hristianity. It
is safe to say that these two stran d s of thought cam e to Mann, as they
cam e to his co ntem p o raries, both from c la ssic al studies and from
w rite rs of the eighteenth century.
Mann rejected the subjectivism of the Stoics and also the con
cept of C hristian im m olation. Mann had singular m ental health. He
was optim istic, he did not like m arty rd o m , and he had a re a l z e st for
living. He understood the value of physical health. The Stoics of
course w ere com pletely unconcerned with physical w ell-being. Mann
had the very original idea for m odern tim es that people could work
fo r good health.
Mann never viewed a hum an being as alone but always reco g -
96
nized the social nature of the species. H ere he agreed with A ristotle
that m an is a political anim al. Happiness depended on a m an 's con
tribution to his fellowmen.
Mann changed the essential quality of Kant's categorical im
perative by placing em phasis on the social nature of the duty and the
objective nature of the act. Mann thought one could judge a person on
the b asis of his actions and the consequences of his actions. Kant
thought that an action got its m o ral value from the m axim which d e
term ined it. If one thought that he w ere acting according to the c a te
gorical im perative his action would be considered m oral according to
Kant. Mann, however, held that you should act in such a way that
your action could be universalized but the im portant thing in judging
the m orality of an action was its resu lts. This is both an incipient
behaviorism and a p re c u rso r of one aspect of pragm atism .
Kant says "Duty, . . . consists in the obligation to act from
pure reverence for the m o ral law." (57:381). Mann would never say
this. Mann would say, rath e r, "If you see anybody suffering and you
can do something about it, it is your duty to do something about it.
It is not only your duty but it is anybody's duty in the sam e situation."
Mann says
Men a re not responsible for the evils they have not caused, and
cannot cure; but they are responsible for the evils they con
sciously cause, o r have the power to cure . . . But our power to
dim inish evils, to extirpate evils, one after another, c reates the
obligation to dim inish and to extirpate. (51:374-75)
H ere we see Mann giving a sort of behavioristic interpretation
to the m oral law. Everyone m ust assum e responsibility for acting in
such a way that they cure the evils they have the "power to cure. "
Political Concepts
! Political Dem ocracy
Mann feels with A ristotle that m an is a political anim al. Men
live in groups and m ust solve their problem s collectively. Mann was
opposed to the rom antic naturalism of Rousseau. He does not feel
that civilization was necessarily unnatural. The problem of politics,
i as he sees it, is to so understand the laws of nature, that m en can
construct their civilization in harm ony with these laws. The kinds of
cultures m en construct are extrem ely im portant. These cultures can
lead to the benefit or detrim ent of the m ajority of m en depending on
their organizations and goals. F o r m en to control their own destiny
is the goal of science, according to Mann. This goal is im portant in
every aspect of the lives of men. Not only m ust men have the knowl-
edge of what to do to achieve happiness, but they m ust have the m eans
whereby they can put this knowledge to work in a practical way.
Mann em phasizes that in the A m erican type of political d e
m ocracy a new quality has em erged in the world. F o r the first tim e
in history, there is a possibility of every man participating in the
political decision-m aking and adm inistrative process. He says that,
in one sense, every man is now a king and should accept the respo n
sibility as well as the power of a king. Every man has to be trained
as the kings of the past had been trained. Nothing lower than the best
possible education should be open to everyone. Only in this way can
each man participate in the decision-m aking or adm inistrative func
tion of the dem ocratic state.
Men are involved in these pro cesses in a dem ocracy reg ard -
97
j le ss of d esire. The political decisions affect all men w hether they
! participated in making them or not. It behooves m en to participate
politically, for their own benefit and for the benefit of society, to the
extent that they can.
Education, Mann points out, is crucial to help men participate
on as high a level as possible. This not only involves intellectual
understanding but taking a positive m oral position. One does not
autom atically take a m orally good position. Taking the good position
is the resu lt of long training, and, for Mann, the schools a re as r e
sponsible for this m o ral training as they a re for intellectual training.
Mann feels that one who is trained co rrectly would, as a r e
sult, become involved in the problem s of his society and participate
in th eir solution.
Mann clearly understands one of the m ain problem s of dem o
c ratic society to be that of overcom ing political apathy. In our form
of republican governm ent, very com plicated m atters a re decided by
the voters at the ballot box. Mann, in one of his m ost famous politi
cal speeches, says
When the appointed day for making the decision a rriv e s, the ques
tion m ust be decided, whether the previous preparation which
has been made for it be much, or little, or none at all. And what
is extraordinary, each voter helps to decide the question as much
by not voting as by voting. (40:20)
Mann is here clearly enunciating a point later made famous by
W illiam Jam es in his essay "The Will to Believe" that, in certain
moving, developing situations, "no decision" is, in its effects, also
a decision. Those who, through apathy, do not participate in voting
a re still involved in the decision. F u rth er, Mann feels, that there
99
m ust be long and continued preparation for exercising the functions
of a citizen in a dem ocracy. "Every aspect of our affairs, " he com -
i
m ents, "public or private, dem onstrates that we need, for their su c
cessful management, a vast accession to the common stock of intelli
gence and virtue" (40:20).
Mann feels that "intelligence and virtue" a re the products of
i long education and training. Active involvement in the political prob-
! lem s by a vast m ajority of the people is necessary to maintain our de-
; m ocracy and it, in itself, is one aspect of the training of the people.
Mann feels that one way people learn is by doing, and (as A ristotle
says, to o ,) they become virtuous by practicing virtue.
There are dangers in a republican form of government. Mann
understands that men have never been able to succeed in maintaining
I a republican form of government for a long period of tim e. He feels
that it has failed in the past "through an incapacity in the people to
enjoy liberty without abusing it" (40:20). The A m erican people, in
the early part of the nineteenth century, still felt th eir form of d em
ocracy was on tria l. Its continued existence was not, by any m eans,
certain. Mann is very sensitive to the possible directions which
could be taken. If the people are not educated both intellectually and
m orally so that they can adequately perform their role as citizens,
then there can be great danger in a dem ocracy. "It is impiety toward
the m em ory of our fathers, " he rem ark s
to suppose that they contended m erely for the tra n sfe r of the
source of m isgovernm ent from one side of the Atlantic to the
other. If we w ere to be governed forever by ignorance and prof
ligacy, it m attered little whether that ignorance and profligacy
should reside in King George or in King N um bers--only as the
latter king being much stronger than the fo rm er, and subject to
100
the ferocity without the im becility of m adness, is capable of com
m itting fa r w ider havoc upon human w elfare than the fo rm e r. "
(40:17)
In a dem ocracy, Mann feels, some of the issu e s a re so co m
plicated that conscientious people have g reat difficulties making d e c i
sions as to which way they should vote, o r which side they should sup-
i po rt. This is not so among the unscrupulous, the ignorant o r the cor
rupt. They will be able to decide the issu e s because they have m ade
up th e ir m inds which way to go and th eir decision has no relationship
to what is right o r wrong. This is why Mann feels that
it is not enough that a b are m ajority should be intelligent and up
right, while a larg e m ajo rity is ignorant and corrupt. Even in
such a state, we should be a house divided against itself, which
we a re taught, cannot stand. Hence knowledge and virtue m ust
penetrate society through and through. We need general in telli
gence and integrity as we need our daily bread. A famine in the
la tte r would not be m ore fatal to natural health and life, than a
d earth in the fo rm e r to political health and life.1 (40:24)
Mann lam ents the fact that th ere a re not free public schools
throughout all the sta te s. He feels that the support in New England is
insufficient and that m uch of the support is begrudged. U niversal edu
cation m ust join hands with universal suffrage in o rd er for the new
experim ent in dem ocracy to succeed, Mann feels.
Role of L eadership
M ann's understanding of the role of lead ersh ip in a dem ocracy
is fundam ental to his political philosophy. He feels that no leadership
is safe if it has an ignorant people following it. Ignorant people a re
*It should be pointed out that Mann uses the word "intelligence"
quite differently fro m the comm on m odern usage. When he is sp eak
ing of "intelligence, " he is speaking of knowledge; a person who is
intelligent is one who has knowledge.
101
unpredictable and too easily swayed by the demagogue. Under such
| conditions, political m isleadership eventually m ust wind up in politi
cal bankruptcy. It is difficult, furtherm ore, for an honest leadership
to m aintain its position because it can be so easily undercut by dem a
gogy if the citizens are ignorant. He refe rs
to the practice of the different political parties into which we are
unhappily divided of seizing upon some specious aspect of every
event, giving it an exaggerated and factitious importance and
perverting it to factious profit. In common and expressive
phrase this is called making political capital out of a thing.
. . . it is forged capital and in the end it m ust bring forg er and
accom plices to judgment and condemnation, as well as their
dupes to political and m oral insolvency. (40:95-96)
Here Mann, of course, is making a political generalization
which is typical of his entire position. He is pointing out that any
leadership which violates the laws of nature cannot long survive. No
m atter now successful they appear to be, they are doomed to failure
if their various energies are used to create only advantages for them
selves--advantages which eventually stifle the development of the good
life which leads to happiness on the part of the whole people. It is to
the advantage of the leadership to lead well; it is to their eventual
disadvantage to m islead the people. It is to the advantage of the lead
ership to have an educated public. It is to the disadvantage of the
leadership if they fail in this basic effort.
Social Reform
Mann was interested in all aspects of social reform . His in
te re sts a re certainly connected with his belief in the perfectability of
man. Mann subscribed to the tradition of idea of P ro g ress as d e
102
scribed by J. B. Bury, the em inent historian. Bury points out in his
book The Idea of P ro g re ss that
the idea of human P ro g re ss then is a theory which involves a syn
thesis of the past and a prophesy of the future. It is based on an
interpretation of history which reg ard s m en as slowly advancing
. . . in a definite and desirable direction, and infers that this
p ro g ress will continue indefinitely. And it im plies that . . . a
condition of general happiness will ultim ately be enjoyed, which
will justify the whole p ro cess of civilization; for otherw ise the
direction would not be d esirab le. T here is also a furth er im p li
cation. The p ro cess m ust be the n e ce ssa ry outcome of the phys
ical and social nature of man; it m ust not be at the m erc y of an
external will; otherw ise there would be no guarantee of its con
tinuance and its issue, and the idea of P ro g re ss would lapse into
the idea of Providence. (3:5)
B u ry 's description of the m ajor elem ents in the idea or p ro g
re s s is, in fact, a generalized sum m ary of M ann's position, although
he does not mention Mann. Mann saw p ro g ress being made in many
fields right under his nose in the United States of the first half of the
nineteenth century. T here was rapid p ro g ress in technology. M a
chines w ere able to do the work that hundreds of w orkers could not
accom plish in the sam e amount of tim e. The forces of nature, like
w ater power, w ere being used to save human labor. It was taken for
granted by m en like Horace Mann that these labor-saving devices
would eventually save the labor of all m en and resu lt in benefits for
all m en. F u rth er, Mann, in his own life, was able to change his posi
tion from that of a poor farm boy to that of a m em ber of the intellec
tual and political leadership group in a few short y e ars. He did this
entirely through his own efforts. Mann thinks in te rm s of p ro g ress
for him self, the United States, and the human race. Mann feels that
though p ro g ress is a possibility, its opposite is, also, always p o ss i
ble. Hence he takes seriously his own junction that if one sees evil,
103
and can do som ething about it, it is his duty to do so. T herefo re
Mann was involved in m ost of the re fo rm m ovem ents of the day. He
viewed them politically in the sen se that he felt that the re su lts d e
sire d would involve the actions of political bodies and the support of
as wide a section of the people as could be m obilized. The following
is a b rie f su m m ary of som e of the social refo rm m ovem ents in which
Mann was involved.
T reatm en t of the Insane. --A s a leg islato r, Mann was alm ost
solely respon sible for w riting and securing passage of the bill in the
M assach u setts leg islatu re which se t up the firs t public institution in
the United States fo r the care of the insane, whom Mann reg ard ed as
"m entally ill. " P revious to the establishm ent of this hospital, the
insane w ere usually jailed and tre a te d as c rim in a ls. Mann followed
through in this a re a , taking a p e rso n al and continued in te re s t in the
construction and operation of this institution, which was located at
W o rc e ste r. His w ork with the insane is an exam ple of how Mann
tra n sla te d his general social philosophy into action. He h ere saw, as
an evil, the inhum ane tre a tm e n t of the insane. He personally had an
experience which convinced him that som etim es those who had been
iso lated as insane, becam e sane again and could then lead a norm al
life. As a leg islato r he could do som ething about this evil trea tm e n t
of the insane, and he did. M ann's in te re st in the a re a continued
throughout his life. He g reatly aided Dorothy Dix in h e r crusading
w ork on the problem s of the c a re of the insane.
S lavery. - -Mann took a very strong position against slav ery .
A book by H orace Mann entitled Slavery: L e tte rs and Speeches was
104
published in Boston in 1851. It is a compilation of the four speeches
Mann made as a m em ber of Congress from 1848 through 1851 and
various other speeches and le tte rs on the question of slavery. The
book also includes M ann's opening argum ent for the defense in the
Drayton case.
These speeches and le tte rs show Mann to be a very brilliant
law yer as well as a dedicated hum anitarian and re fo rm e r. An e n tire
ly separate and lengthy study would be appropriate on M ann's work as
a legal specialist and on the intim ate connections he drew continually
between his social philosophy and his legal work. This, however,
goes beyond the scope of this study and will not be attem pted here.
It is im portant to mention, however, that M ann's position on
slavery is based upon his view of the nature of m an and his idea of
p ro g ress. Mann feels that slavery is a m an-m ade institution which
violates the laws of nature. E very human being, according to Mann,
deserv es the best opportunity "to develop and cultivate the faculties
which God has bestowed upon him " (42:143). It is necessary, states
Mann, to take from his neck
the heel that has trodden him down; I would dispel from his mind
the cloud that has shrouded him in m oral night; I would rem ove
the obstructions that have forbidden his soul to asp ire; and having
done this, I would leave him, as I would leave every other man,
to find his level, - -to occupy the position to which he should be
entitled by his intelligence, and his virtues. (42:143)
Mann would not only rem ove the shackles of slavery but would
rem ove all the obstacles to the full development of each m an. Slavery
is m orally wrong because the Negroes a re human beings and slavery
violates the nature of human beings. Since slavery was m orally
wrong, it was politically wrong and had to be fought politically.
105
Mann m ade no separation betw een his political and econom ic
theory. They a re both integral elem ents of his social philosophy. In
his speeches to C ongress Mann attacks slav ery as a social ill. He
shows it to be an evil in that it has m ade the South econom ically d e
pendent upon the North; it has hindered the in d u strial developm ent of
the South; it has corrupted both p riv ate and public m o rals in the South;
it had prevented the developm ent of free schools even for w hites in
the South; and it was endangering the developm ent of A m erican dem oc
racy. Mann feels that slav ery is to be judged an evil when looked at
fro m any point of view. Though it is m o re of an evil in the South, it
is corrupting the e n tire position of the United States both internally
and in relatio n s with other nations.
Mann feels that the Fugitive Slave Law is both c o n tra ry to the
law of God and to the Constitution of the United S tates. It is, he says
th ere fo re of no binding force upon m y conscience o r m y conduct.
I do not m ean to say by this th at I shall m ake forcible opposition
to it. I take the Q uaker ground upon this subject; I will not a s s is t
to execute it; though I shall suffer it to execute itself on m e. (42:
143)
One other im portant point in M ann's opposition to slav ery is
that slav ery violates all of an individual's basic rig h ts. Included in
these rights is bodily freedom . The legal im portance, in a d em o c
racy, of the W rit of Habeas C orpus, cannot be o v erestim ated , a cco rd
ing to Mann. He feels that any re s tric tio n s on the body would alm ost
autom atically r e s tr ic t the m ental and m o ral developm ent of the indi
vidual.
A nti-w ar A ttitudes. - -H orace Mann is opposed to any social
developm ents which led to the dom ination of any groups of m en by an-
106
i other group of men. He is particularly opposed to this being accom -
!
■ plished by force of a rm s. He feels that any group securing such a
dominant position would com m it any num ber of evil acts to m aintain
their dominant position to the detrim ent of those that w ere being dom -
inated. This would be evil for Mann because it would violate natural
law and prevent p ro g re ss. It would lead to a situation, so often seen
in history, where a few enjoyed the available goods and the vast m a-
i
jority had no chance to enjoy even a modicum of happiness. In such a
situation the m ass of the people a re kept in ignorance and there is no
possibility of pro g ress for the people as a whole.
Mann would judge a society to be m orally good or bad not on
the basis of its production of a few great political or m ilitary heroes,
but on the basis of an analysis of the development, and the p o ssibili
ties for further development, of the people as a whole. Of course,
I the developments of the great men of science, the inventors of new
i
ideas and new technologies, produce something objective which can be
used by whole peoples for their own development. But the acts of the
great m ilita ry leaders have been usually an aid to only those who a re
already in a ruling position. The only w ar in history which received
a favorable notice from Mann was the A m erican Revolution. This
war was forced upon the Am erican people, according to Mann, and
its resu lts were incorporated in the Constitution and a new e x p eri
ment in dem ocracy. This war could be judged good in that it led to
the possibilities of development to a vast num ber of people.
But, Mann lam ents, even in a Republic, education does not
receive the attention or the m onetary support that it should. W ar and
107
anything connected with it can always get support sooner than anything
which is as basic to the developm ent of the whole people as education.
F o r instance, he says
And what was the f ir s t school established by C ongress, a fte r the
form ation of the general governm ent? It was the M ilitary A cad
em y at W est Point. This school is sustained at an annual expense
of m o re than a hundred thousand d o lla rs. It is the N orm al School
of w ar. As the object of the Com mon N orm al School is to teach
te a c h e rs how to teach; so the object of this Academy is to teach
k ille rs how to kill. (45:11:267)
The only solution to the problem of w ar and the psychology
which engenders w ar, Mann feels, is education. He says that peace
can be preached "for eighteen centuries m o re" and we w ill still find
ourselves in the m idst of w ar
unless the rising generation shall be educated to that strength and
sobriety of intellect which shall dispell the insane illusions of
m a rtia l glory; and unless they shall be train ed to the habitual ex
e rc ise of those sentim ents of u n iv ersal brotherhood for the race,
which shall change the com m on h e ro ism of battle into a h o rro r
and an abom ination. (45:11:268)
Mann was involved in a num ber of other refo rm m ovem ents
such as the struggle for w om en's rights and education. His theories
and work in education, which he holds to be the m ost im portant of all
social refo rm m ovem ents, will be discu ssed in detail in the next
chapter.
In the a re a of w om en's rights, Mann takes a very advanced
position for his tim e. It is one which is based upon his general social
philosophy. Women a re human beings, with the sam e natural rights
and potentials as m en. Women a re different from m en, but such dif
ference im plies no inferiority. Quite the contrary, in som e a re a s
women a re m uch m o re capable than m en. They can, for exam ple, do
a b e tter job teaching on the elem en tary level than m en. They should
108
| be adm itted to institutions of higher learning, both as students and
I
I faculty. As the first President of Antioch College, Mann acted on
both of these precepts. Indeed, with m inor qualifications women were
for the firs t tim e in Am erican higher education, welcomed into the
sam e curriculum as men. Along with this position in education, Mann
fought for every progressive m easure to extend wom en's rights eco
nomically and politically.
Economic Concepts
As has been mentioned before, Mann speaks of political econ
omy as a single discipline and does not separate economic from polit
ical theory. This was the common attitude during his tim e. In this
paper some tentative separations have been made. But the fact that
Mann treated them as one m ust be kept in mind.
Accumulation of Wealth
Horace Mann feels that gaining wealth can have both good and
bad resu lts for both the individual and his society. As far as the in
dividual is concerned, Mann feels that it is a duty and a good for each
young man to strive to accumulate a competence. However
all above a fortune is a m isfortune. It is a m isfortune to him
who am asses it; for it is a voluntary continuance in the h arn ess
of a beast of burden, when the soul should enfranchise and lift
itself up into a higher region of pursuits and pleasures. It is a
persistence in the work of providing goods for the body, after the
body has already been provided for; and it is a denial of the high
e r demands of the soul, after the tim e has arrived and the m eans
are possessed of fulfilling those demands. (39:52-53)
Once the basic needs are amply provided for, man should p u r
sue higher goals. For Mann, these higher goals, intellectual, a r t i s
tic, and hum anitarian, are all fundamentally social. They imply in-
109
volvem ent in the political goals of seeking the m axim um happiness for
: a ll people. Mann feels that "g rea t w ealth is a m isfortune because it
m ak es g enerosity im possible. T h ere can be no generosity w here
th e re is no sa c rific e " (39:54). It would not be possible, Mann says,
to call a m illio n aire generous when what he gives involves no s a c r i
fice; and a m an who "hoards superfluous w ealth while th e re is fam ish
ing in the next stre e t, " certain ly cannot be considered generous. Yet
the accum ulation of w ealth beyond a c e rta in point m akes people forget
about the w elfare o r happiness of th e ir neighbors, according to Mann.
T h ere a re w ider social im plications involved in the a cc u m u la
tion of larg e fortunes. "V ast fortunes, " Mann states
a re a m isfortun e to the State. They confer irre sp o n sib le power;
a hum an nature, except in the r a r e s t in stan ces, has proved in
capable of weilding irre sp o n sib le power, without abuse. The
feudalism of C apital is not a whit le ss form idable than the feu d al
ism of F o rc e . The m illio n aire is as dangerous to the w elfare of
the com m unity, in our day, as w as the b aronial lo rd of the M id
dle A ges. Both supply the m eans of sh e lte r and of ra im e n t on
the sam e conditions; both hold th e ir re ta in e rs in se rv ice by the
sam e tenure, -- th e ir n e ce ssity fo r bread; both use th e ir su p e rio r
ity to keep th em selv es su p e rio r. The pow er of m oney is as im
p e ria l as the pow er of the sw ord; and I m ay as well depend upon
another for m y head as for m y b read . The day is su re to com e
when m en w ill look back upon the p rero g a tiv e s of C apital at the
p re se n t tim e, with as se v ere and as ju st a condem nation as we
now look back upon the p red ato ry chieftains of the Middle A ges.
W eighed in the balances of the sanctuary, or even in the clum sy
scales of hum an ju stice, th e re is no equity in the allotm ents
which assig n to one m an but a d o llar a day with working, while
another has an incom e of a d o lla r a m inute, without w orking.
(39:56)
Mann is h ere pointing to the fact that m en can use m oney in
o rd e r to gain and m aintain a dom inating position over other m en. He
feels that this is as bad as m aintaining that dom inating position by the
sw ord. It keeps vast num bers of people fro m developing th e ir hum an
potential. F ro m M ann's point of view it is also degrading to the hu-
110
manity of those who hold this wealth. Mann had the puritanical view
on the values to be gained from work. No individual, he feels, can
fulfill his possibilities without work. Work is as necessary to the
well being of an individual as is recreation.
There has been a tendency to deify wealth, Mann feels. This
frequently causes the young to fail to be tem perate in their actions.
Mann wants to have people understand the possible evils as well as
the possible goods which might be attendant on the accumulation of
great wealth. During the first half of the nineteenth century this
country was expanding at a very fast pace. Mann saw a great amount
of speculation in land values and in currency. He saw men make and
lose fortunes. He became Secretary of the Board of Education in
1837, the year of the firs t full-blown nationwide economic c risis. The
effects of this c risis lasted for a num ber of years.
Mann feels that individuals had to have m ore fundamental
aim s in life than accumulating a fortune. If they w ere not able to see
beyond the role of m oney-m aker, they could never develop into fully -
developed happy individuals. Mann does not feel that wealth, as such,
is bad. It is only bad to seek it as an end in itself. To fail to under
stand that wealth is an instrum ent to be used for the benefit of m an
kind is bad. Mann says
I wage no w ar against wealth. I taint it with no vilifying breath.
Wealth, so far as it consists in comfortable shelter and food and
raim ant for all mankind; in competence for every bodily want,
and in abundance for every m ental and spiritual need, is so valu
able, so precious, that if any earthly object could be worthy of
idolatry, this might best be the idol. Wealth, as the means of
refinem ent and em bellishm ent; of education and culture, not only
universal in its comprehension, but elevated in its character;
wealth as a means of perfecting the a rts and advancing the sci-
I l l
ences, of discovering and diffusing truth, is a blessing we cannot
adequately appreciate; and God seem s to have pronounced it to be
so, when He made the earth and all the fullness thereof, --th e
elem ents, the land and sea, and all that in them is, —convertible
into it. But wealth as the m eans of an idle or a voluptuous life;
wealth as the fo ste re r of pride and the p e trifie r of the human
heart; wealth as the iron rod with which to beat the poor into sub
m ission to its will, is all the c u rses of Pandora concentrated into
one. It is not m ore true, that money re p re se n ts all values, than
that it re p re se n ts all vices. (39:51-52)
Untapped Wealth
Mann points out many tim es that there a re great untapped r e
sources in the State which should be put to work. These are the c h il
dren of the State who lack an education and so cannot contribute to
society to th eir fullest potential. He points out that if any new inven
tion cam e out which increased the production of the soil, it would be
im m ediately produced and universally used, "Yet, " he says, "who
will venture to say that one-fourth, or even one-fortieth p art of the
m ental and m o ral energies of our children is now put forth and ex
pended in the w isest direction, or for the highest objects?" (28:95).
Mann holds that there a re m any talented children throughout
the state of M assachusetts whose talents are buried with them . He
feels that one basic role of education is to help rele ase and channel
this trem endous re s e rv o ir of talent.
P ro p erty Rights
H orace Mann has the idea that each generation m ere ly has
custodial rights over the wealth it has inherited o r produced. Along
with these custodial rights, according to Mann, each generation has
the responsibility of turning over its accum ulated wealth to the next
I 112
! generation in b e tte r condition than they have received it. No g e n e ra -
! tion has the right to d e stro y o r m isu se property, be it public o r p r i
vate. T hese custodial rig h ts include the rig ht to use the p ro p erty and
the obligation to sustain and enhance its value in te rm s of the good
the next generation can get fro m it.
Mann develops this view of p ro p erty rights in the m anner of a
la w y e r's b rie f (35:108-28). He attacks those who would refuse to pay
tax es for the support of schools because they claim it to be an inva
sion of th e ir "p ro p erty rig h ts. " The ric h m an "who has no children,
d e c la re s it an invasion of his rig h ts of pro p erty to exact a co n trib u
tion fro m him to educate the children of his neighbor" (35:111).
O thers, for various re a so n s, feel they should not be forced to pay
any tax fo r support of the schools. They appeal to the absolute right
to do what they w ish with th e ir own p ro p erty .
Mann denies that th e re is any such absolute right to do what
one will with p ro p erty . In the f ir s t place, Mann holds that all the nat
u ra l re s o u rc e s of the e a rth w ere c re ate d fo r the use of all m en, "for
the race, collectively, but to be p o sse sse d and enjoyed in succession?'
(35:114). This is, Mann thinks, a "g re a t principle of n atu ral law . . .
in re g a rd to which the p ro p erty of each individual is strongly qualified
in relatio n to his co n tem p o raries, even while he has the acknowledged
rig ht of p o sse ssio n " (35:115).
Mann, a fte r a long analysis of this aspect of natu ral law, a s
s e r ts that it is incorporated into civil law of every civilized people.
The g rea t n atu ral re s o u rc e s of the w orld "do not belong to our a n c e s
to rs in perpetuity; and the right of the next generation in them will be
113
i lim ited and defeasible like o u rs" (35:117).
|
In w riting of property rights, Mann fu rth er states, that alm ost
no person can claim to have earned all that he now claim s to p o ssess.
Not only have we started out with the natural re so u rc e s bequeathed to
us by God, but our ancestors together with all those ingenious m en of
science and invention have added th eir work and value to the p resen t
stage of developed reso u rc e s. Each individual com es into the world
in the context of a culture which is at a level of developm ent to which
he could not, of course, contribute. This involves each child in an
im portant nexus of causal and m oral relationships. The child is not
responsible for his coming into the world; so it is up to those who are
responsible for bringing the child into the world, to continue to shoul
der this responsibility through the development of the child to the
point where he can assum e an adult role in the culture. This applies
to the whole new generation individually and collectively.
i Since property rights a re not absolutely individual but involve
us in m o ral relationships and responsibilities with our contem poraries,
our ancestors and our descendants, each child has an absolute natural
right to live, once he is born. He also has other natural rights which
are an extension of the firs t. He, with his contem poraries, has a nat
ural right to assum e guardianship over the property in his society at
a certain point.
This assum ption of the guardianship of p ro p erty by each new
generation involves two very im portant points, for Mann. F irs t, it
involves the problem of deciding at what point in the life of each new
generation this custodial property right is to be tra n s fe rre d . Second,
114
it involves the problem of p rep a rin g each new generation to assu m e
the re sp o n sib ilitie s of m anaging these p ro p e rtie s . This resp o n sib ility
includes m aintenance and extension of the value of the p ro p erty and
tr a n s f e r of it to the next generation in good o rd e r.
Mann says that each generation m ust be given som e of the a c
cum ulated p ro p erty as soon as they a re born. They m u st have m a
te r ia l c a re and this is the resp o n sib ility of the o ld er generation. F u r
th e r som e of this p ro p erty m u st be used to provide for the education
of each new generation. This is the resp o n sib ility of the e n tire older
g eneration . E ach individual m ust sh a re this resp o n sib ility because
his p ro p e rty rights a re not absolute, but a re custodial and contingent
upon the situation in the total society in which he liv es. The younger
g en eratio n m u st receiv e som e of this p ro p erty in the fo rm of educa
tion in o rd e r to be p ro p erly p re p a re d to take over the re sp o n sib ilitie s
of custodial c a re . T h erefo re, according to Mann, everybody is m o r
ally obliged to support fre e public education. Hence Mann says
I believe in the existence of a g reat, im m utable p rin cip le of
n a tu ra l law, o r natural ethics, - -a principle antecedent to all h u
m an institutions and incapable of being abrogated by any o rd i
nances of m an, - - a principle of divine origin, c le a rly legible in
the ways of Providence as those ways a r e m anifested in the o rd e r
of nature and in the h isto ry of the hum an rac e, --w hich proves the
absolute right of ev ery hum an being that com es into the w orld to
an education; and which, of co u rse, proves the c o rre la tiv e duty
of e v ery governm ent to see that the m eans of that education a re
provided for all.
In re g a rd to the application of this prin cip le of n atu ral law, - -
that is, in re g a rd to the extent of the education to be provided for
all, at the public expense, - -som e differences of opinion m ay f a ir
ly exist, under different political organizations; but under a r e
publican governm ent, it seem s c le a r th at the m inim um of this
education can never be le s s than such as is sufficient to qualify
115
each citizen for the civil and social duties he will be called to
d isc h a rg e ;--su c h an education as teaches the individual the g reat
laws of bodily health; as qualified fo r the fulfillm ent of parental*1
duties; as is indispensable fo r the civil functions of a witness o r
a ju ro r; as is n e ce ssa ry for the voter in m unicipal affairs; and
fin ally ,,fo r the faithful and conscientious d isch arg e of all those
duties which devolve upon the in h erito r of a portion of the s o v e r
eignty of this g rea t republic. (35:112)
Sum m ary
M ann's social philosophy seem s to follow coherently fro m his
epistem ology and m etaphysics. His philosophical re a lism establishes
a stable w orld which can be known and his belief that hum an beings
a re fundam entally rational and can know th eir w orld a re both basic to
his social philosophy.
Mann took an objective view of hum anity, suitable, of co urse,
to his re a lis t philosophy. He considered human physiology, needs,
d riv es, and potentials to be much the sam e within certain lim its.
Human happiness is based on the idea of a basic sim ila rity between
hum an individuals. A dem ocratic society is b est suited to m eet hu
m an needs.
Men cannot develop to healthy, fulfilled adults unless they
know the laws of nature. It is the responsibility of each generation
to p rep are the next generation so that the laws of nature are re c o g
nized and individual talents are developed for the benefit of the whole
society.
Mann is in the tradition of the id ea of P ro g re s s of which J. B.
Bury speaks. Mann feels that each generation should rationally e v a l
uate its position in te rm s of both its h isto ry and its future. This is
n e ce ssa ry if m en a re to continue to m ake this w orld a b etter and b e t
116
t e r place in which to live. Mann c le a rly reco gnizes the p o ssib ility of
re tro g re s s io n , but he is fundam entally an optim ist. He understands
c le a rly that optim ism as m e re thought cannot affect the s o rts of
changes he feels should be achieved, so, he says, it m u st be c o n
nected with action guided by a ratio n al an aly sis of reality .
Mann feels that it is e sse n tia l to face the re a litie s of the
w orld in which one liv es. This re q u ire s m o re than being a p ra c tic a l
m an. It re q u ire s an understanding of re a lity which can only com e
through using all the la te s t re s u lts of scientific investigations. It
a lso re q u ire s m o ral training, so that knowledge will be put to use for
the good of a ll the people and not just a favored few.
Mann re je c ts the "back to nature" position of th in k ers like
R ousseau. He feels that civilization has developed m any ways of
using nature in the in te re s t of hum anity and that it would be irra tio n a l
to give these up. The key point, h e re , for Mann is that the m o re we
know of the law s of natu re, including the laws of hum an n atu re, the
m o re we can use the n atu ral re s o u rc e s in the in te re s ts of m en.
Looking at Mann from a co n tem p o rary point of view, his p hi
losophy has m any points of sim ila rity to the philosophies of Dewey,
R u ssell and S a rtre . It is s im ila r to all th re e of th ese la te r ph ilo so
p h e rs in that they all em phasize the im portance of involvem ent and
hum an respo nsibility. They all feel, as does Mann, the vital im p o r
tance of m o ra l p roblem s and th e ir intim ate in te rrelatio n sh ip with
intellectual p ro b lem s.
Mann states that he believes each m an has an individual e s
se n c e --h e re he is an A risto telian . Though Mann suffered no Angst,
117
he did not believe that God was responsible for anything specific m a
human being's life. Rather, he believed that human beings make eth
ical choices. These are not in the m oral realm if one is not conscious
of the possibilities. F u rth er, the range of choice is lim ited by the
extent of an individual's knowledge of reality. But every choice in
volves action and is a factor in the development of a personality.
Of the three m odern philosophers mentioned, Mann is closest
to R ussell. They are both re a lists. Neither feels that the search
for truth should be colored by personal whims or d e sire s. The world
is not broken up into p arts called my world and your world. It is one
objective world and it is as science tells us it is. Mann, being in the
Newtonian tradition, says the world is exactly as science tells us it
is. R ussell would be m ore tentative about it and speak in term s of
probabilities. But both feel that a proposition is either true or false.
The way we find out whether it is true or false is to see if it c o r r e s
ponds with the facts about which the proposition m akes an assertion.
The epistem ological relationship does not, as such, change the object
being investigated.
Mann is also clo ser to R ussell in being in the tradition of s c i
entific and utilitarian thinking. He em phasizes, as does Russell,
that the possibility for each individual to achieve happiness is based
on the recognition of the laws of nature and the development of the in
dividual's personality. Both of them feel that education is an in stru
m ent to be used in the development of each individual and in the devel
opment of the community. Neither looks upon education as an isolated
intellectual activity. Education for both men, includes intellectual
118
and m oral development. Both are passionately interested in the
search for truth, but neither feels that this se arc h isolates them
from the problem s of men. Just the rev e rse position is taken by both
Mann and Russell.
Like his contem porary John Stuart Mill, and in common with
such subsequent philosophers as Russell, Dewey, and S artre, Mann
i felt it was his m oral responsibility to enter actively into e n te rp rises
: which are im portant to the welfare of mankind. Mann feels, with
Dewey, that a person m ust be judged by his actions. He evaluates
the actions of individuals and entire societies on the basis of th eir
congruence with the laws of nature.
Mann was not a system atic philosopher in the m anner of
Hegel or Spinoza. He built no philosophic system . But he had a set
of fundamental principles which he had arrived at critically. He was
continually attem pting to understand m ore about the world and m an's
relationship to that world. He used these principles as a base in the
solution of specific problem s. When he did this, he was conscious of
the method he was using. In this sense he was a p re c u rso r of the
great Am erican pragm atists. Mann feels as P eirce, Jam es, and
Dewey do, that theory is an instrum ent which m en can use to solve
specific problem s. This is what Mann means when he says that m en
m ust be guided by reason in solving particular problem s.
It is, perhaps, surprising that in spite of the fact that he was
not a system atic philosopher, Mann developed a set of basic principles
which fit together coherently. This happy resu lt seem s to stem from
his great ability to think clearly about any p a rticu la r problem . This
119
is exem plified in his work in education, as an attorney, and as a leg
islato r.
M ann's feeling that all human beings are b ro th ers and should
be trea te d as such is fundamental to all his actions. In a le tte r dated
July, 1836, he m akes the following statem ent:
You say that our love to m an should a rise o r flow from s u
prem e love to God. I do not think you had a definite idea in your
m ind when you wrote that sentence. If God be the g rea test and
the best of beings, then, indeed, should we strive to expand and
dilate our conceptions of him, and love will ris e in our h e arts at
once; but that emotion, after all is a very different one from what
we m ust feel tow ard our fellowmen. God needs none of our aid,--
our fellowmen need it constantly; he is infinitely superior to u s,--
our fellowmen a re our equals, som etim es our in ferio rs; to his
happiness we can add nothing, --to th e irs much. We know it is
the duty of the powerful to give strength to the weak; of those who
have abundance to im part to the needy; of the w ise to in stru ct the
inexperienced. It is against the whole analogy of human nature,
and against every c le a r perception of duty, to despoil the d e sti
tute in o rd er to give him who already has a redundance, and to
m ake the feeble perfo rm not only th e ir own task s, but also the
labors of the healthy and vigorous. We are, to be sure, to love
God; yet it is not for his w elfare, but for our own. The individ
ual who does not feel that love, is b ereft of a source of unfailing
happiness; but he m ay still p erfo rm the first of duties toward his
fellowman: and m uch higher do I believe he stands in the scale
of m oral being, who faithfully devotes him self to the w elfare of
his kind, though his communion with his Maker m ay be feeble and
interrupted, than the m an whose contemplations are so fastened
upon the Deity, that he forgets those children of the Deity who r e
quire his aid . '. . while we a re on e arth the burden of our duties
is tow ards m an. (45:1:50)
CHAPTER VI
EDUCATIONAL THEORY AND PRACTICE
Nowhere is H orace M ann's integration of theory and practice
b e tte r illu stra te d than in his educational philosophy and his c a re e r in
public education. His educational th eo ries stem d irec tly fro m his
social philosophy.
With deference to w ise r m en, we hold it as an axiom , that th ere
is no such thing as intelligent p rac tic e which does not originate
in theory; and no such thing as estab lish ed or cred ib le theory,
which has not been ratified by p ra c tic e . AH intelligent action in
cludes both theory and p ra c tic e . The blind m ole, as he runs
along his covered fu rro w in the earth , is a p erfect prototype of
the m e re ly p ra c tic a l man; the m ille r that flies a second tim e into
the candle's blaze, after having had its legs and wings once
scorched th e re , is a p erfect prototype of the m e re ly th eo retic
m an. The f ir s t is im pervious to all ideas of anything b e tter than
he now does o r knows; the second grows no w ise r by experience.
The epithet P ra c tic a l, th erefo re, in the sense which excludes
theory, or speculation, is a highly derogatory te rm ; and the m an
who a ssu m e s it in th is sense, dictates his own title as plainly as
D ogberry did. (45;V:278)
Mann goes on to expand on this point a s follows:
E very intelligent m an in every voluntary action he p e rfo rm s, has
a theory. He has a purpose; he has an idea of the nature of p ro p
e rtie s of the object he w ishes to affect, or effect; and he has a
conception o r notion that certain ways a re b e tter than other ways
for accom plishing h is design. T his is T heory. (45:V:278)
120
The Nature of the L earn er
Man Is a Rational Animal
Horace Mann held the A ristotelian idea that m an is a rational
anim al. Each person has the possibility of developing into a rational
being. Man has three aspects to his nature: the physical, the em o
tional and the intellectual. Each of these aspects of his nature m ust
be developed in harm ony with the others for the individual to m ature
into a fulfilled human being. The body m ust be healthy, the feelings
and emotions m ust be trained in a m oral way, the intellect m ust be
developed to the point where it can guide the entire en terp rise.
There a re sim ilarities and differences between individuals.
Because of the sim ilarities, Mann feels he can generalize about hu
man beings. However, if every person w ere exactly like every other
in "disposition and capacity" it would be very sim ple to educate them
all. "The only labor would be to discover the right method for educa
ting a single child, and to stereotype it for all the re st" (45:11:107).
All individuals are different in disposition and capacity though ..
"all minds have the sam e elem entary or constituent faculties" (45:11:
107). This is all we m ean when we say that "human nature is e v ery
where the sam e" (45:11:107).
Mann's concept of the fundamental c h aracteristics of human
nature differs very much from the Calvinist concepts which had dom
inated New England thinking until the second quarter of the nineteenth
century. Man "is m ore complex and diversified in constitution and
m ore variously endowed in faculties " (45:11:112) than any other being
upon earth. It is because of his complex and diversified nature that
121
122
m an has been able to roam v irtually the whole earth.
j
It is im portant, Mann thinks, to understand the nature of the
le a rn e r if one is to be a successful tea ch e r.
If a m an working on wood, m ista k es it fo r iron, and attem pts to
soften it in the fire, his product is - - a s h e s . And so if a te a c h e r
supposes a child to have but one tendency, and one adaptation,
when he has m a n y ;--if a te a c h e r tr e a ts a child as though his n a
tu re w ere wholly anim al, o r wholly intellectual, o r wholly m o ral
and religious, he d isfig u res and m u tilates the nature of that chil4
and w renches his whole stru c tu re into deform ity. (45:11:112)
N atural C uriosity
E ach child has a n atu ral cu rio sity to le a rn about the w orld and
about him self. This is why developm ent can take place. It is im p o r
tant that this cu rio sity be nu rtu red and developed. It will stifle the
learning p ro c e ss in any individual if this natural d e sire to le a rn is
eith er squashed o r is p erm itted to atrophy from disuse.
N ature has im planted a feeling of c u rio sity in the b re a s t of every
child, as if to m ake h e rs e lf certain of his activity and p ro g re s s .
The d e sire of learning a lte rn a te s with the d e sire of food; the
m ental with the bodily appetite. The fo rm e r is even m ore c r a v
ing and exigent in its nature than the la tte r, and acts longer w ith
out satiety. Men sit with folded a rm s , even while they a re s u r
rounded by objects of which they know nothing. Who ev er saw
that done by a child? But we cloy, disgust, h alf-ex tirp ate, this
appetite for knowledge, and then deny its existence. M ark a
child, when a c le ar, w ell-defined, vivid conception seizes it.
The whole nervous tissu e v ib rates. E very m uscle leaps. E very
joint plays. The.face becom es a u ro ra l. The sp irit flashes
through the body, like lightning through a cloud. (45:11:49-50)
Enjoym ent and F e a r in L earning
The learning p ro c e ss proceeds b e tte r if the le a rn e r is enjoy
ing the activity. "A cquirem ent and p lea su re should go hand in hand.
They should never p art com pany" (45:11:49). Mann feels that you can't
in te re st a child in learning som ething on the b asis of the possibility
123
that it might be useful or enjoyable in the future. It is im portant to
m ake each learning activity enjoyable in itself because in this way the
child is driven to learn, because it is fun at each point. As he grows
older, he learns to view the process in te rm s of less im m ediate
goals. By this tim e it is hoped that he has come to enjoy the learning
because there is pleasure in the process itself (45:V :l60-6l).
F e a r should never be associated with learning, according to
Mann.
F e a r is one of the m ost debasing and dementalizing of all p a s
sions. The sentim ent of fear was given us, that it might be
roused into action, by w hatever should be shunned, scorned, ab
horred. The emotion should never be associated with what is to
be desired, toiled for and loved. If a child appetizes his books,
then lesson-getting is free labor. If he revolts at them, then it
is slave-labor. Less is done, and the little is not so well done.
(45:11:49)
This attitude of Mann is in direct contradiction to much of the
educational practice of his day. Mann feels that children learn to
hate study when they have associated it with discom fort and pain (45:
11:50). Because they have lived in a situation where learning has been
connected with fear, many individuals have rejected intellectual a c
tivity. Once this is done, it is difficult to rekindle that natural c u ri
osity which leads to an enjoyment in learning.
The Nature of Ignorance
Mann distinguishes between "ignorance" and "false notions. "
Ignorance, he states, is a lack of ideas as babies or idiots lack ideas.
This is essentially John Locke's idea when he says, "Indeed, our
m aker created us in blank ignorance" (45:11:50). To this Mann adds
a thought which resem bles the fourth of A risto tle's four causes when
124
he says that we were created in ignorance
for the very purpose of giving us the boundless, endless pleasure
of learning new things; and the true path for the human intellect
leads onward and upward from ignorance towards omniscence,
ascending by an infinity of steps, each novel and delightful. (45;
11:50)
Mann feels it is im portant not to confuse ignorance with false
notions, because such confusion leads to failure to recognize the dan
g ers to society when people have false notions. Ignorance is not the
danger.
Those whom we are accustom ed to call ignorant, are full of false
notions, as much w orse than ignorance as wisdom is better.
. . . Ignorance is blankness; or, at m ost, a lifeless, inert m ass,
which can, indeed, be moved and placed where you please, but
will stay w here it is placed. (45:11:179)
Mann understands very well that men, when they grow up in a
particular culture, might well develop false ideas about that culture.
In this Mann anticipates the anthropoligist's definition of ethnocen-
tricity.
The very atm osphere we breathe is freighted with the ideas of
property, of an acquisition and transm ission; of wages, labor,
and capital; of political and social rights; of the appointment to,
and tenure of offices; of the reciprocal relations between the
great departm ents of governm ent--executive, legislative, and
judicial. Every native-born child amongst us imbibes notions,
either false or true, on these subjects. (45:11:180)
Every child absorbs ideas and habits of action from the culture
in which he is raised. Some of these ideas m ay be what Mann calls
false notions. It is extrem ely difficult to be critical of these ideas
which have been a part of one since early childhood. They seem to be
naturally true. They are intuitively felt to be true. Put in m odern
philosophic te rm s, it can be said that we apprehend them as "clear
and distinct. " C larity and distinctness are D e sc a rte s'c rite ria for
125
being able to te ll w hether an idea is tru e or fa ls e . Mann is , in e f
fect, suspicious of any id eas which "one grow s up w ith" which have
not been subjected to a c ritic a l analy sis or looked at objectively and
scientifically.
No m an that ever lived could, by m ere intuition o r instinct, fo rm
ju st opinions upon a thousand questions, p ertain in g to civil s o c i
ety, to its ju risp ru d en ce, its local, national, and in ternational
duties. Many tru th s, vital to the w elfare of the people, differ in
th e ir rea lity , as m uch fro m the ap p earan ces which they p re se n t
to uninstructed m inds, as the apparent s iz e of the sun differs
fro m its re a l size. (45:11:180)
A m an could indeed have ideas based on intuitions re la te d to
his accum ulated experience. If not c ritic a lly exam ined th ese ideas
m ay be eith er tru e or fa ls e . Unexam ined id e a s of th is kind m ay then
be false and certainly, Mann says, m o re dangerous than ignorance.
A group of individuals w ith false ideas can do a g re a t deal of
h a rm in the context of o u r dem o cratic society. "An idiot is ignorant,
and does little h arm , a m aniac has false id eas, and d e stro y s, b u rn s
and m u rd e rs " (45:11:181).
The D evelopm ent of Good H abits
Everyone, Mann notes, develops habits in the a re a s in which
activ ities take place. It is e a s ie r to develop "good" habits in a new
a re a of experience than to s ta rt with "bad" h ab its w hich have to be
changed. F o r changing a habit in relatio n sh ip to a specific activity is
m o re difficult than establishing the f ir s t habit.
In this context Mann speaks of "good" habits as those achieving
the d e sire d goal. In m odern te rm s "good" m ight be called " o p e ra
tively su ccessfu l. " A bad habit would be u n su ccessfu l or le ss e ffi
cient than a good one in achieving the d e sire d end.
; 126
i If habit is overem phasized, it seem s that, theoretically at
i
least, m en can be so conditioned that all spontaneity and all thought
will disappear. It is reasonably certain from M ann's w ritings that
his position h ere is m uch the sam e as that of Jam es in his Talks to
T e a c h e rs; that is, when speaking of habit, he is speaking of c h arac ter
form ation.
A m an 's c h arac ter is made up of his philosophy plus a bundle
of habits. It is because m inor problem s a re solved habitually by e s
tablished habits that a m an has tim e to think about m ajo r problem s.
O ccasionally a m ajo r problem will be created by the realization that
the habitual response to a p articu lar problem is not satisfactory.
Then this habit is itself scrutinized and perhaps changed.
M en's c h arac ters undergo continual change throughout th eir
lifetim es. It is im possible for a m an to change m any of his habits at
once, as Jam es points out. It is usually difficult enough to change
one at a tim e. So c h arac ter change itself is slow.
The crucial point for Mann is not whether to develop habits or
not. He knew that every m an develops habits; human beings are hab
it-developing anim als. The im portant thing to Mann is the develop
m ent of good habits, m orally good and effective problem -solving hab-
, its which help a m an to lead a happy useful life.
Today the p h rases "good habits" and "bad habits" c a rry a dif
ferent connotation than they did during M ann's lifetim e. "Bad habits"
has a topical m eaning which survive from the end of the nineteenth
century, long after M ann's death. "Bad habits" m eans to many of us,
as it did to Samuel Clem ens, smoking, drinking, sw earing and o v e r
127
eating. Mann m eant these things too, but he m eant much m ore.
Horace Mann was speaking also of general c h arac ter tra its , d ecisiv e
ness or undecisiveness, tim idity or ag ressiv eness, precision in the
use of language, in short, quite a different o rd er of habit.
That the nineteenth century understood habit form ation as
Mann did is superbly illustrated in A Connecticut Yankee in King
' A rth u r's C ourt. Clemens points up that early m edieval England could
have been m odernized by "the boss" but for the "bad habits" that the
natives used to m eet their problem s. Most of the problem s that the
nineteenth century m an faces when he goes back to the sixth century
a re problem s of habituation.
Mann im plies that a person can choose his own habits and need
not be a helpless product of social conditioning. Jam es would concur
in this.
The concept of habit was reduced alm ost to an absurdity by
. the behaviorists who defined all human development and thought as
habituation. Psychologists and educators stopped using the word
"hab it." A complete discussion of m ech an ical-m aterialist ideas in
Behaviorism is irrelevant, but with this approach, it was difficult to
conceive of the le a rn e r as an active participant in the learning p r o
cess. Because he was not an active participant, the learn er could not
choose his own habits.
Behaviorism presented a determ inism that seem ed to alm ost
completely negate free choice. Horace Mann, and W illiam Jam es
after him, recognized the "laws" of the universe as determ ined.
Within the given structure of m an's environm ent however, there re -
128
m ained a v ery wide a re a of fre e will, hum an choice, and, of co u rse,
! the possibility of p ro g re s s tow ard hum an "perfection. " Mann u n d e r
stands that m en act on the b a sis of habits in m ost of th e ir daily life
a ctiv ities. He feels that it is im portant to develop good habits in the
young, before they have had the chance to develop bad habits. T hese
good habits will be useful to the individual the r e s t of his life.
Good habits a re developed as an integral p a rt of the learning
p ro c e ss . In any a re a , as in reading, fo r instance, one does the c o r
re c t s e rie s of actions over and over again until they have been habit -
ualized. M ann's specific recom m endations in the a re a s of teaching
reading or hygiene involve this em phasis on the developm ent of good
habits. "T ra in up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old
he will not d ep art from it" (37:93)
Mann feels that the developm ent of habits involves train in g
which is consciously guided. The com m on school is ex trem ely im
portant, to Mann, because it can be such an effective in stru m e n t in
the training of all the young. Mann feels that this em phasis on the
kind of training which develops the habits which a re good in the sense
of successful is very im portant as long as the goals which w ill be
achieved a re good in the m o ral sense. The com m on schools, th e r e -
! fo re, m u st tra in children m o rally as well as intellectually. This is
the road to hum an p ro g re s s.
At the end of his c a r e e r with the State B oard of Education,
Mann is still stating this point. He feels that, in spite of all the y e a rs
of effort,
this experim ent has never yet been trie d . Education has never
yet been brought to b e a r with one hundredth p a rt of its potential
129
fo rce, upon the n atu res of children, and, through them , upon the
c h a ra c te r of m en, and of the ra c e . In all the attem p ts to re fo rm
m ankind which have h ith erto been m ade, w hether by changing the
fram e of governm ent, by aggravating o r softening the se v e rity of
the penal code, o r by substituting a g o v e rn m en t-created , fo r a
G od -created re lig io n ;--in all these attem pts, the infantile and
self-o p eratin g c h a ra c te r of the influences it re c e iv e s, have been
a lm o st wholly unrecognized. H ere, then, is a new agency, whose
pow ers a re but ju st beginning to be understood, and whose m ighty
en erg ies, hitherto, have been but feebly invoked; and yet, fro m
our experience, lim ited and im p erfect as it is, we do know that,
far beyond any other e arth ly in strum entality, it is com prehensive
and decisive. " (37:93-94)
The Active L e a rn e r
H orace M ann's concept of the le a rn e r in the act of learning
sounds v ery m odern. Much can be done by the te a c h e r o r o th ers, but
"the effective labor m ust be p erfo rm ed by the le a rn e r h im self" (45:
11:516). This concept of the active le a rn e r is basic to M ann's u n d e r
standing of the p ro c e ss of education.
Knowledge c an 't be poured into a child's m ind like fluid from one
v e sse l to another. The pupil m ay do som ething by intuition, but
generally th ere m ust be a conscious effort on his p a rt. He is not
a passive recipient, but an active, voluntary agent. He m u st do
m o re than adm it o r w elcom e; he m u st rea ch out, and g rasp , and
bring hom e. It is the duty of the tea c h e r to bring knowledge w ith
in a rm 's -le n g th of the le a rn e r; and he m u st b re a k down its m a sse s
into portions so m inute, that they can be taken up and a p p ro p ria
ted, one by one; but the final ap propriating act m u st be the
le a r n e r 's . Knowledge is not annexed to the m ind like a foreign
substance, but the m ind a ssim ila te s it by its own vital pow ers.
It is fa r le s s tru e , that each one m ust e a rn his own b read by the
sw eat of his own brow, than it is that each one m u st e a rn his own
knowledge by the labo r of his own brain; for, s tric tly speaking,
nature recognizes no title to it by inheritance, gift o r finding.
(45:11:516)
The b rain m ust be e x ercised if it is to be developed just as one
m u st e x e rc ise the legs to develop m u scle. The only way to le a rn to
think is to p rac tic e thinkings This point is basic to all M ann's ideas
on the learning p ro c e ss.
Sense of S elf-resp ect
The im portance to each person (and child especially) or a con
cept of his own worth as a human being was c le ar to Mann.
We have a natural, spontaneous feeling of se lf-re sp e c t, an innate
sense that, sim ply in our capacity as human beings, we a re w orth
something, and entitled to som e consideration. This principle
constitutes the in te rio r fram ew ork of some of the virtues, veiled,
indeed, by th eir own beautiful covering, but still n e ce ssa ry in o r
der to keep them in an e re ct po sture, am idst all the overbearing
cu rren ts and fo rces of the w orld. W here this feeling of s e lf - r e
spect exists too weakly, the whole c h a ra c te r becom es lim ber,
flaccid, im patient, sinks under the m enace of opposition, and can
be frightened out of anything o r into anything. On the other hand,
when this propensity aggrandizes itself, and becom es swollen and
deform ed with pride, and conceit, and intolerance, it is a far
m ore offensive nuisance than m any of those which the law autho
rizes us to abate, sum m arily, by force and a rm s . (45:11:118-19)
A risto tle 's concept of the golden m ean is being recom m ended
here for the developm ent of a sense of se lf-re sp e c t. To fully m ature,
a person m ust develop a feeling of self-w orth. Although no one can
live happily without a feeling of self-w orth, Mann observes co rre ctly
that it can be overdeveloped o r exaggerated making the person obnox
ious. This can cause other people to place a low value on him. An
aw areness of the m ean can be achieved. It is im portant to the le a rn e r
in M ann's view, because the self-confidence which com es from self-
resp ect is a n e c e ssa ry factor in the learning experience.
This concept of se lf-re sp e c t as a n e ce ssa ry condition of
teachability is closely related to M ann's cam paigns against cru el and
humiliating punishm ents in the classro o m .
Im portance of Language
F o r H orace Mann language was n e ce ssa ry to our existence not
only as rational individuals but as social beings. This twofold concept
130
131
of language is typically Mannian. To Mann m en a re alw ays social
anim als and fo r all social purposes thought and e x p re ssio n a re
dependent, each upon the other. Ideas without w ords a re value
le ss to the public; and w ords without ideas have this m ischievous
attrib u te, that they inflict the s e v e re s t pains and penalties on
those who a re m o st innocent of thus abusing them . (45:11:511)
It is through language that hum an beings le a rn the experiences
of o th ers. Through language m en le a rn of objects and events that they
have not d irec tly experienced. Without language each m an 's knowledge
would be ex trem ely c irc u m sc rib e d . The unlim ited p o ssib ilities of e x
tension of m a n 's knowledge is based on the use of language.
The school is the place w here m en can le a rn to use language
w ell. H ere speaking, w riting, reading and listening a re learn ed . In
his quaint way H orace Mann d isc u sse s the c o rre c t habits in the use of
language that children should form in the school. Most im portant of
all, he re m a rk s incontrovertibly "children should fo rm an invincible
habit of n ever using the organs of speech by th em selv es, as an appa
ra tu s, detached fro m and independent of, the m ind" (45:11:513). An
o rd e r that Mann h im self does not alw ays fulfill in his o ra to ric a l m o
m ents.
At his b est, how ever, Mann indicates deep and p ro p er resp ec t
fo r the m an n er of using language and concern for c la rity and the d e
velopm ent of
the habit of observing distinctions betw een w ords and p h ra se s,
and of adjusting the language used to various extents of m eaning.
It is the place w here they a re to com m ence the g reat a rt of ad ap t
ing the w ords to ideas and feelings, just as we apply a m easu rin g
in stru m en t to objects to be m e a su re d . Then in a fte r-life , they
will never venture upon the u se of w ords which they do not u n d e r
stand; and they will be enabled to use language, co-extensive
with th e ir thoughts and feelings, - -language which shall m a rk off
132
so m uch of any subject as they wish to exhibit, as plainly as
though they could have walked around it and set up landm arks.
(45:11:513-14)
The Objectives of Education
Dem ocratic Training
Education, states Mann, is not a goal in itself but an in stru
m ent to be used to p repare individuals to become good, responsible,
and active citizens in our republic. This is the road to happiness for
m ost people, according to Mann. A m erican political institutions are
founded upon "the great idea of the capacity of man for self-govern
m ent" (34:94). It is, therefore, necessary for the citizens of our
country to be trained to handle their responsibilities.
In o rd er that m en m ay be prepared for self-governm ent, their
apprenticeship m ust commence in childhood. The great m oral
attribute of self-governm ent cannot be born and m atured in a day,
and if school children a re not trained to it, we only p repare o u r
selves for disappointment, if we expect it from grown men. (34:
95)
In the environm ent of the school, the children m ust have the ex p eri
ences which will lead them to develop the c o rre c t habits both of in
volvement and self discipline so n ecessary to functioning well in a
dem ocracy. This, according to Mann, takes long and careful p rep a
ration. People trained in non-dem ocratic societies cannot become
fully functioning A m erican citizens just by taking a voyage acro ss the
Atlantic and taking the oath of naturalization. If they have developed
the habits of subm ission to some personal despot then, says Mann,
"som e self-appointed lord . . . on this side of the w ater, will succeed
to the authority of the m aster" (34:95).
. . . they identify liberty with an absence from restra in t, and an
133
im m unity fro m punishm ent, then they a re liable to becom e intox
icated and d e lirio u s with the highly stim ulating p ro p erties of the
a ir of freedom ; and thus in e ith er case, they rem ain unfitted, u n
til they have becom e m o rally acclim ated to our institutions, to
e x ercise the rights of a freem an . (34:95)
Mann feels that it is im portant for A m ericans to le a rn that
they cannot to le rate a u th o rita rian ism in the schools o r at home if they
w ish th e ir children to develop into good citizens.
But can it m ake any substantial difference w hether a m an is su d
denly tra n sla te d into all the independence and p rero g ativ es of an
A m erican citizen, from the bondage of an Irish lord o r an English
m anu factu rer, or from the equally rigorous bondage of a p arent,
guardian or school te a c h e r? He who has been a s e rf until the day
before he is twenty-one y e a rs of age, cannot be an independent
citizen the day after; and it m akes no difference w hether he has
been a s e rf in A ustria o r in A m erica. As the fitting ap p re n tic e
ship fo r despotism consists in being train ed to despotism , so the
fitting apprenticeship for self-governm ent consists in being
train ed to self-governm ent. (34:94-95)
Developm ent of the Individual
P erh ap s the m ost im portant objective of education, for Mann,
is the fu llest possible developm ent of each individual's potentialities.
Human beings s ta rt good. They all have the possibility of im proving
throughout th e ir lifetim e. It is the objective of education to help them
develop th e ir capabilities so that they becom e healthy, m o rally good,
intelligent m ature individuals who will actively particip ate in solving
the problem s of th e ir society.
Mann takes the point of view that the individual will becom e a
socialized person if he is educated c o rre c tly in the comm on schools.
Mann was opposed to education by private tutor or by private school.
N either of these would help develop the individual into a socially
aw are and responsible individual. The com m on school education can
134
a cc o m p lish th is , a cco rd in g to M ann, b ecau se c h ild re n fro m a ll
c la s s e s and groups atten d . M ann fe e ls that c h ild re n who have a tte n
ded school to g e th e r w ill be able to w o rk to g eth er h arm o n io u sly as
a d u lts. Mann thinks of the developm ent of the individual in so c ia l
te r m s .
In telle c tu a l grow th is the m o st im p o rtan t fe a tu re of individual
developm ent. T his is v ita l to the u n d erstan d in g of the law s of n a tu re .
Only if people know as w ide a sp e c tru m of the know able tru th a s p o ssi
ble can they a ct in te llig en tly and thus achieve h a p p in e ss. "A ll a ffe c
tio n s and im p u lse s m u st be guided by in te lle c t, " say s Mann (45:V:29).
E m p h asis on each m a n 's in te lle c tu a l developm ent cannot
rig h tly be pushed aside by so -c a lle d p ra c tic a l p ro b le m s. T he d e v e l
opm ent of an individual who can use h is in te lle c t to guide h is actio n s
and feelin g s is the m o st p ra c tic a l of a ll lo n g -te rm goals fo r M ann.
M oral T rain in g
A m o ra lly re sp o n sib le adult is one m a jo r objective of e d u ca
tio n . M o ral education, Mann points out
is a p rim a l n e c e ssity of so c ial e x iste n c e . The u n re s tra in e d p a s
sio n s of m en a re not only h o m icid al, but su icid al; and a com m uni
ty w ithout a conscience would soon extinguish its e lf. (37:90)
T h ere is no agency, Mann fe e ls , w hich can educate ch ild ren
m o ra lly ex cep t the school. T his is why he c a lls the com m on school
the " g re a te s t d isc o v ery e v e r m ade by m an" (45:V:37). He th in k s it is
up to the te a c h e rs to do the job. "M en of the w o rld , " says M ann, " a re
too in ten t upon b u sin e ss, c o m m erc e, a r ts , sc ie n c e , p o litic s, to p a ss
fro m th e ir own into th is con term in o u s reg io n " (45:V:142). T he c o u rts,
135
p o lic e , and o th e r a g e n c ie s, w hich a re c re a te d to en fo rce th e law s,
only s t a r t to w o rk w hen som e law is b ro k en . T hey a re not a g en c ie s
w hose p r im a ry re s p o n s ib ility is c rim e p rev e n tio n . R eligious o rg a n i
zatio n s a re involved in the p ro b le m s of the " re la tio n s betw een m an
and h is m a k e r" (45:V :143). T hey a re not d ire c tly involved on a fu ll
tim e b a s is on th e m o ra l p ro b le m s w hich a re p ro b le m s of "the r e l a
tio n s betw een m an and h is fellow m en" (45:V: 143). T h e re fo re , M ann
say s
it is c le a r th a t the guidance and e x p o sitio n s of th e ch u rch , even
a t the p r e s e n t day, a re p rin c ip a lly devoted to re lig io u s , as co n
tra -d is tin g u is h e d fro m m o ra l, te a c h in g s. B e sid e s, th e in s tr u c
tio n s of th e c h u rc h , being g e n e ra lly d esig n ed fo r m a tu re m in d s,
a re not alw ay s adapted o r a p p ro p ria te to youthful c a p a c itie s .
And w hat is s till m o re to the p u rp o se , p ro b ab ly not one h a lf the
c h ild re n belonging to th e com m unity a re p re s e n t to lis te n to , o r
be p ro fite d by, th e m in is tra tio n s of the sa n c tu a ry . T his p ro p o s i
tio n w ill hold tr u e a lso in re la tio n to the Sabbath S chools. B e
sid e s the la tte r a re open but one day in sev en , and but fo r a sh o rt
p e rio d even d u rin g th a t day. The only adequate re s o u rc e , then,
fo r c h ild re n , is in the C om m on School. (45:V:143)
M ann fe e ls th a t m o ra lly good m en a re m ade by m aking m o ra lly good
c h ild re n . T h is can only be done by th e com m on sc h o o ls. The te a c h
e r s m u st be tra in e d to do th is w o rk , b e ca u se fu n d am en tally the only
c u re fo r th e p ro b le m of c rim e and m o ra l evil is p rev e n tio n . S om e
thing m ig h t be done to change grow n m en fro m liv e s of c rim e to liv e s
of s o c ia lly good p e rs o n s . U su ally , th e ir c h a ra c te r s a re fo rm e d and
it is e x tre m e ly d iffic u lt fo r ad u lts to change th e ir h a b its and th u s th e ir
c h a r a c te r s . C h ild re n , how ever, a re in the p ro c e s s of developing
th e ir c h a r a c te r s , and if anything can be done about c rim e and m o ra l
e v il, it m u st be done w ith c h ild re n at the tim e th e ir c h a r a c te r s a re
being fo rm e d . T h u s, M ann fe e ls , th a t the m o st hopeful way of a t-
136
tack in g the p ro b lem is by c o rre c t m o ra l tra in in g of c h ild re n . As
M ann points out "in re g a rd to anything th at g ro w s, one rig h t fo rm e r
w ill a cc o m p lish m o re than a thousand re fo rm e rs " (45:11:264).
H ealth an O bjective
The concept of co n scio u sly w orking fo r h ealth w as a re v o lu
tio n a ry concept in M ann's day. H ealth had not been c o n sid ere d an
im p o rta n t objective in education since the days of the G re e k s. Not
only w as it being ignored by e d u c a to rs in the e a rly p a rt of th e n in e
te e n th cen tu ry in A m e ric a , but m any p h y sical situ atio n s in the schools
w hich w e re e ith e r u n sa n ita ry o r o th erw ise in ju rio u s to the h e alth of
th e ch ild ren , w ere not being c o rre c te d .
Mann say s th a t the body is the m in d 's in stru m e n t; and
the pow ers of the m ind, like the sk ill of an a rtis a n , m ay a ll be
baffled, through the im p e rfec tio n of th e ir u te n s ils. The happiness
and the u sefu ln ess of thousands and ten s of thousands of m en and
w om en have been d e stro y ed , fro m not knowing a few of the sim p le
law s of h ealth , w hich they m ight have le a rn e d in a few m o n th s; - -
nay, w hich m ight have been so im p re ss e d upon th em , a s h a b its,
in childhood th at th ey would n e v er think th e re w as any o th er
w ay. . . . T h ere is a h ig h er a r t than the a r t of the p h y sic ia n ;- -
the a r t, not of re s to rin g , but of m aking h ealth . H ealth is a p ro d
uct. H ealth is a m an u factu red a rtic le , - - a s m uch so as any fa b
ric of the loom o r the w orkshop; and, ex cep t in som e few c a se s
of h e re d ita ry ta in t, o r of o rg an ic lesio n fro m accid en t o r v io
len ce, the how m uch, o r the how little , h e alth any m an sh a ll e n
joy, depends upon his tre a tm e n t of h im self, o r ra th e r , upon the
tre a tm e n t of th o se who m anage his infancy and childhood, and
c re a te his h ab its fo r him . (45:11:78-79)
H ealth is a n e c e s s a ry b a sis fo r in te lle c tu a l ach iev em en t and
fo r se cu rin g h ap p in ess, acco rd in g to M ann. In th is as in th e c a se of
m o ra l tra in in g , the developm ent of good h ab its is e s s e n tia l to a c h ie v
ing the goal of a h ealth y body. The lo s s e s to so ciety and to in d iv id
u a ls su stain ed due to lac k of good h ealth have been v e ry high. Mann
137
fee ls th ese a re n eed less lo s s e s . A high degree of g en eral health can
be achieved if children a re tra in e d and educated in the rig h t m anner
about the law s of health and life . "H abit and knowledge w ill coincide,"
Mann re m a rk s
they w ill draw in the sam e d irectio n ; they w ill not be an tag o n ists,
as is now so g en erally the case w ith those adult m en who acq u ire
sound knowledge a fte r bad habits have been enthroned, --th e blind
fo rce of the la tte r spurning a ll the argum ents and w arnings of the
fo rm e r. . . . L et a child w ash h im self a ll over ev ery m orning,
fo r sixteen y e a rs, and he w ill as soon go w ithout his b rea k fast as
h is bath. (37:48)
The individual and the com m unity both owe th em selv es the e f
fo rt to c re a te good health. It is perh ap s in the a re a of public health
that H orace M ann's d eep est m a rk on both the A m erican c h a ra c te r and
the A m erican scene a re to be found.
Mann conceives the com m unity as resp o n sib le fo r schools,
fa c to rie s and public buildings to m aintain the health of the com m unity.
Mann sp ecu lates that, if each generation w ere p ro p erly educated on
p erso n al and public health, it would take but two o r th re e generations
to develop a public w hich would dem and a high degree of sanitation in
a ll phases of daily life. Indeed, today, the A m erican style of life is
c h a ra c te riz e d by a love of bathroom s followed as a close second by a
love of a n tisep tic kitchens.
The C ultivated Mind
The suprem e objective of education is the production of a cu l
tiv ated m ind (45:11:85). Mann sta te s" . . . education alone can con
duct us to th at enjoym ent which is at once, b e st in quality and infinite
in quantity" (45:11:84). Only an individual who has a cultivated m ind
138
can have th is b e st of a ll enjoym ents. Mann shows w hat he m eans by
saying th at it is "b e st in quality" and "infinite in quantity. "
In re g a rd to a ll o th er p o sse ssio n s th e re is a lim it beyond
w hich fu rth e r p o sse ssio n s do not m a tte r. Mann points out th at up to
th e point of com petence, and
up to the point of independence and s e lf-re s p e c t, few things a re
m o re valuable than p ro p e rty ; beyond th a t point, few things a re of
le s s . And hence it is , th at a ll acq u isitio n s of p ro p e rty , beyond
th a t point, - -c o n sid e re d and used as m e re p ro p e rty , - -co n fe r an
in fe rio r s o rt of p le a su re , in in fe rio r q u a n titie s. H ow ever ric h a
m an m ay be, a c e rta in num ber of th ic k n esse s of w oolens o r of
silk s is a ll he can com fortably w ear. Give him a dozen p a la c e s,
he can live in but one at a tim e . . . . Hence the w ealth iest, w ith
a ll th e ir w ealth, a re d riv en back to a cultivated m ind, to b e n efi
cent u se s and a p p ro p ria tio n s; and it is then, and then only, th at a
g lo rio u s v ista of happiness opens out into im m en sity and im m o r
ta lity .
E ducation, then, is to show our youth, in e a rly life, this bro ad
line of d e m a rca tio n betw een the value of th o se things, w hich can
be owned and enjoyed by but one, and those w hich can be owned
and enjoyed by a ll. (45:11:84-85)
When one p e rso n enjoys a cultivated m ind, it does not stop a n
o th er fro m a lso enjoying the sam e. When one p e rso n enjoys know l
edge of the tru th in any a re a , it does not p rev e n t an o th er fro m enjoy
ing the sam e know ledge. In fact, it should help, becau se, the m ore
cu ltiv ated m inds th e re a re , the m o re chance th at they would be coop
e ra tin g in the solution of so cial p ro b lem s and thus the m o re chance
fo r h appiness on the p a rt of the whole people.
The diffusion of knowledge to as m any people a s p o ssib le in
o rd e r to help them cultivate th e ir m inds is ex tre m e ly im p o rtan t a c
cording to Mann. "E ducation m u st be u n iv e rsa l" sta te s Mann.
It is w ell, when the w ise and the lea rn ed d isco v er new tru th s;
but how m uch b e tte r to diffuse the tru th s a lre ad y d isco v ered ,
am ongst the m ultitude! E v ery addition to hum an knowledge is an
139
ad d itio n to hum an pow er; and w hile a p h ilo so p h e r is d isc o v e rin g
one new tru th , m illio n s m ay be p ro p ag ated am ong the people.
D iffusion, th en , r a th e r than d isc o v e ry , is the duty of o u r g o v e rn
m e n t. W ith u s, the q u alificatio n of v o te rs is a s im p o rtan t a s the
q u a lific a tio n of g o v e rn o rs, and even c o m es f ir s t, in the n a tu ra l
o r d e r . Yet th e re is no Sabbath of r e s t in o u r c o n te sts about the
la tte r , w hile so little is done to qualify th e fo rm e r. The th e o ry
of our g o v ern m en t is , - -not th a t a ll m en , how ever unfit sh all be
v o te rs , - -but th a t e v e ry m an, by the pow er of re a s o n and the
se n se of duty, sh a ll becom e fit to be a v o te r. E ducation m u st
b rin g the p ra c tic e as n e a rly a s p o ssib le to the th e o ry . (45:11:83)
T h e re is no q u an titativ e lim it to the dev elo p m en t of the m in d .
In fa c t, th e m o re a p e rso n know s the g re a te r his a b ility to le a rn m o re
and th e m o re h is enjoym ent in the p ro c e s s . One r e s u lt of th is p ro c e s s
of ed u catio n is to develop individuals who have rid th e m se lv e s of the
p re ju d ic e s --th e B aconian id o ls--w h ic h blind th em to tru th . F o r M ann,
a s fo r B acon, "K now ledge is pow er, " and it is th e re fo re e x tre m e ly
im p o rta n t fo r m en to have hold of the tru th r a th e r th an to b eliev e
fa lse h o o d s. H olding fa ls e notions cannot only have d ra s tic so c ia l e f
fe c ts , but fa lse notions p rev e n t th e know ledge of th e tru th . T his in
tu rn p re v e n ts m en fro m solving m any p ro b le m s w h e re the know ledge
of the tru th w ould aid in th e ir solution. M ann poin ts out
E ducation is to in s p ire the love of tru th , as the s u p re m e s t
good, and to c la rify th e v isio n of the in te lle c t to d is c e rn it. We
w ant a g e n eratio n of m en above deciding g re a t and e te rn a l p r i n
c ip le s , upon n a rro w and se lfish g rounds. (45:11:80)
D evelopm ent of L e a d e rsh ip
H o race M an n 's wide p o litic a l e x p erien c e m ade him keenly
a w are of the kind of le a d e rs h ip needed in a d e m o c ra c y . When he left
the H ouse of R e p re se n ta tiv e s he did so in p a r t b e ca u se he d e s p a ire d of
s e rio u s acc o m p lish m en t by th e se drunken, dueling, d ish o n est and d is
o rd e rly C o n g re ssm e n . T h e re w e re c u ltiv ated m inds am ong th e m , but,
140
as H enry A dam s d e sc rib e s it, they w ere s till in a m in o rity 40 y e a rs
la te r.
Since Mann reco g n ized c le a rly th at le a d e rsh ip in a d em o cracy
cannot get too fa r ahead of the people being led, he reach ed a solution
congruent w ith h is o p tim ism : The people as a whole m u st be educated
to the h ig h est lev el of th e ir individual p o te n tia litie s.
R ecognizing th at changes brought about by the in d u stria l re v o
lution m ade new and d ifferen t dem ands on le a d e rsh ip he points out,
c h a ra c te ris tic a lly , th at in our advanced sta te of civ ilizatio n we have
evolved m any
com plicated questions re sp e c tin g so c ial d u tie s. We w ant a g en
e ra tio n of m en taking up th ese com plex qu estio n s, and of tu rn in g
a ll sid es of them tow ard the sun, and of exam ining them by the
w hite lig h t of rea so n , and not under the fa lse c o lo rs w hich soph
is tr y m ay throw upon them . (45:11:80)
What kind of le a d e rsh ip does Mann think we should have? Not,
of co u rse, m en who change th e ir m inds w ith each new c o u rse of "the
popular wind" (45:11:80) but m en who can m ake th at wind blow in the
b e st d ire c tio n fo r a ll the people. He w ants a p a trio tic le a d e rsh ip
w hich does not attem p t a re tu rn to the p a st but m en "who w ill do fo r
the fu tu re w hat the p a st has done fo r us" (45:11:80), He w ants m en
who can speak the tru th to the people and who do not depend upon f la t
te ry to get ele cted . He fee ls th at the com m unity is so divided on so
m any issu e s th at th e re is only one way to overcom e th is division.
T his way is education. A tru ly educated people can com e to a g re e
m ent on b asic m eans and goals, b ecau se the tru th is " e te rn a lly and
indissolubly One" (45:11:81).
Mann u n d erstan d s th at the nation cannot develop w ell w ith so
141
m uch in te rn al strife , and he ask s
W hat can save us, and our ch ild ren a fte r u s, from e te rn a l, im
placable, u n iv ersal w ar, but the g re a te s t of all hum an pow ers, - -
the pow er of im p a rtia l thought? Many, - -m ay I not say m o st, --o f
those g re a t questions, which m ake the p re se n t age boil and
seethe like a caldron, w ill n ev er be se ttled , until we have a gen
e ra tio n of m en who w ere educated, fro m childhood, to seek fo r
tru th and to re v e re ju stic e . . . . If th e re a re m om entous q u e s
tions which, w ith p re se n t lig h ts, we cannot d em o n strate and d e
te rm in e , le t us r e a r up stro n g e r, and p u re r, and m o re im p a rtia l
m inds fo r the solem n a rb itra m e n t. (45:11:81)
Extending Human Knowledge
A never-ending ta s k is expanding the fro n tie r of hum an know l
edge, and M ann's statem en t of his apprehension of the ta s k is its e lf a
c le a r statem en t of his philosophical re a lis m . "T h ere a re now ju st as
m any absolute tru th s in ex isten ce as th e re ev er w ill be. " He d e
sc rib e s these tru th s in th at so rt of nineteenth century poesy so i r r i
tating to tw entieth cen tu ry ta s te .
T here they ex ist, m ore valuable to m an than zones of gold,
sw ee te r in affection than unfallen Eden, su b lim er than any Patm os
yet rev ealed to m an; and the problem which we have to w ork is to
p re p a re the m en who can d isc o v er th ese m o re glorious tru th s
ju st as m en p rep a red the telesco p e s by w hich the p re e x iste n t
s ta rs w ere disco v ered . (51:219)*
Extending the fro n tie rs of knowledge w as an im p o rtan t asp ect
of the idea of p ro g re s s. H igher education played a vital ro le in the
p ro g re s s of the country. Although the few lin es quoted above from
M ann's "Inaugural A d d ress" at Antioch College give som e insight into
the w eakness of M ann's o ra to ric a l sty le, the next few sen ten ces from
*Few cultivated m inds of the tw entieth century recognize the
re fe re n c e to P atm o s, the A egean island w here St. John w rote. The
re fe re n c e was one that w as probably com m onplace to educated New
E nglanders of M ann's generation.
142
the sam e speech illu s tra te the point even b e tte r.
The tru th s w hose shining faces no m o rta l hath y et seen a re no
le s s r e a l and they w ill be no le s s freig h ted w ith b le ssin g s when
they com e than those by w hich we have been a lre a d y gladdened
and im proved. But they lie beyond the fro n tie r of our p re s e n t
and knowledge and th e re fo re , as yet, a re u se le s s to m ankind.
We need the m inds and th e re fo re we m u st r e a r the m inds w hich
can push fo rw a rd th is fro n tie r of knowledge so as to b rin g th ese
tru th s w ith a ll th e ir benefactions fro m the fu rth e r to the h ith e r
side of the lin e, fro m the b a rre n p o ssib ility of being enjoyed into
a ctu al, re a liz e d enjoym ent. " (51:219-20)
"T ru th s w hose shining fa c e s " and "freig h ted w ith b le ssin g s"
a re p h ra s e s th at a re cloying to the m odern re a d e r. In addition to the
flam boyant o r se n tim en tal th e re is a loose and undisciplined use of
language th a t Mann h im se lf would not have to le ra te d in his m o re so b e r
m om ents.
P ro b le m s of lite ra r y style a re not the only stum bling blocks
to an a p p re cia tio n of M ann’s v ery re a l v irtu e s. M ann’s e n tire co n
ception of the e n te rp ris e of scien ce would be questioned today. His
p re-D arw in ian u n iv erse is com pleted and unchanging, a m isconception
to tw en tieth -c en tu ry thought.
Few p h ilo so p h ers of scien ce today conceive of scien tific m e th
od as m e re ly th at of d isco v erin g tru th s w hich have been p re s e n t but
unknown until the m om ent of d isc o v ery . N or a re a ll tru th s so d isc o v
e re d "freig h ted w ith b le s sin g s. " To say th at a ll w ill be "gladdened
and im proved" se em s o p tim istic to the point of sillin e s s in the age of
the hydrogen bom b.
In fa irn e s s to Mann, it should be noted again th a t he lived out
his life before D arw in published his g re a t w ork. It is , in fact, M ann's
e x tra o rd in a ry in sig h ts in o th er a re a s that lead one to expect b e tte r of
143
him than w as possible in the field of scien tific philosophy. T hat he
was in c o rre c t o r in accu rate in his fo rm u latio n s is not su rp risin g .
He is am azingly relev an t and co n tem p o rary on m any subjects le s s
dem anding than scien ce.
C u rricu lu m Innovations
H orace Mann contributed d ire c tly to the developm ent of the
com m on school c u rric u lu m in th re e m ajo r a re a s : (1) health educa
tion, (2) m o ra l education, and (3) m u sic. The concept of the c u r r ic
ulum in this study co v ers the subject m a tte r taught in the schools.
M ann's contributions in the f ir s t of the two subjects m entioned above
w as o riginal and rev o lu tio n ary . H is contribution in introducing m u
sic, and e sp ecially o ra l m usic, into the c u rric u lu m was an a d m in is
tra tiv e one, though in his E ighth Annual R eport he gives a s e rie s of
th e o re tic a l argum ents on the values of o ra l m u sic being taught in the
schools.
H ealth Education
One of M ann's m o st rev o lu tio n ary contributions to elem en tary
education is his introduction of health education into the com m on
school cu rric u lu m . H ealth w as m entioned b rie fly in the preceding
section as one of the m ajo r objectives of education. T his objective
can only be achieved if health education is a p a rt of ev ery ch ild 's
background. With health education, Mann includes education in p h y s
iology, physical education, hygiene, and sanitation. As usual with
Mann, he includes the idea of train in g students in a c tiv itie s in each
a re a as w ell as giving students an in tellectu al understanding of the
144
p ro b lem s involved and the b e st so lu tio n s su g g ested b y sc ien c e a t the
tim e .
M ann spends a lm o st his e n tire Sixth A nnual R e p o rt on the su b
je c t of h ealth education. He sp eak s of th is re p o rt a s an e s s a y in the
scien ce of physiology. "The g re a te s t h ap p in ess and th e g re a te s t u s e
fu ln e ss, " Mann w rite s
can n e v er be attain e d , w ithout the soundness of p h y sic al o rg a n iz a
tion w hich c o n fe rs the pow er of e n d u ran ce, and th a t u n in te rru p te d
enjoym ent of h e alth w hich ra n so m s the w hole of o u r tim e and
m eans fro m sic k n e ss and its e x p e n d itu re s. In th e g re a t w ork of
education, then, our p h y sical condition, if not th e f ir s t step in
point of im p o rta n c e , is the f i r s t in the o rd e r of tim e . On the
broad and firm foundation of h e alth alone can the lo ftie s t and m o st
enduring s tru c tu re s of the in te lle c t be r e a r e d . (45:111:229)
Mann points out th at in any c r is is a c tiv ity of a nation, such a s
w a r, "the s ta te of the sic k lis t h as been m ade the su b je c t of in q u iry "
(45:111:145). H isto ria n s have alw ays reco g n ized the h e a lth of a people
as a fa c to r of im p o rtan c e in th at p e o p le 's c r is is p e rio d s . "B ut the
m anly health and vigor of a people engaged in the a c ts of p eace, "
M ann lis ts
as am ong the m o st e s s e n tia l ite m s in a n a tio n 's valuation, as a
cap ital rea d y fo r p ro fita b le in v estm en t in any in d u s tria l e n te r
p ris e , and th e re fo re as a p ro lific so u rc e of public revenue as
w ell as p riv a te w e alth --h av e been overlooked by sta te sm e n and
law g iv e rs, in a ll th e ir sch em es fo r natio n al ag g ra n d ize m e n t.
(45:111:145)
Mann fe e ls th at th e re a re v e ry few if any th in g s of m o re e c o
nom ic value to a nation than physio lo g ical know ledge. Illn e ss and bad
h ealth a re not due to P ro v id en ce, M ann s ta te s , but u su a lly to our own
violations of the law s of physiology. It is e s s e n tia l to know th e se law s
if one is to achieve and m ain tain bodily h ealth . E v ery th in g we do,
145
everything we eat, even the a ir we b re a th e , a re all involved physiolo
gically in our bodily functions. Mann understands th a t th e re is a vast
knowledge available in th is a re a , but th a t it is not being d issem in ated
in such a m an n er that it can be used by all the people. Mann goes in
to g re a t d etail on the extent of the knowledge of physiology in the
1840's. U nfortunately, Mann com plains
. . . no sy ste m atic m e a su re s have ev er been taken by any gov
ern m en t fo r its u n iv ersal diffusion am ongst the people, although
it is c e rta in th at such knowledge is a condition p reced en t, w ithout
which a high point of health fo r the whole com m unity can n ev er be
reach ed . O ur Com mon Schools a re a channel through which th is
k now ledge--as delightful in the acq u isitio n as it is useful in p o s
s e ss io n --m a y be u n iv ersally diffused; and, in th e long run, its
leg itim ate pro d u cts w ill be found to tra n sc e n t in value the gains
of the m ost adventurous co m m erce o r the spoils of the m ost su c
cessfu l w ar. " (45:111:146)
N ature does not te ll us how to c a re fo r o u rse lv es. This
knowledge has been accum ulated by m ankind over a long period of
y e a rs . It is hum an knowledge. The a ir and the things w hich can be
eaten o r drunk do not com m unicate w ith us. "They a re unintelligent
in re g a rd to our w ants, " Mann points out (45:111:150). Human beings,
how ever, have enough knowledge of the law s of physiology available so
th at they can be in tellig en t in re g a rd to nature around them . "In our
e a rly y e a rs, " Mann re m a rk s
th ese ad ju stm en ts, adaptations, p ro tectio n s, a re left to p are n tal
knowledge and vigilence; a fte rw a rd s the resp o n sib ility is t r a n s
fe rre d from p a re n ts to offspring. But p aren ts a re d eplorably ig
norant. Hence they allow unhealthful indulgences. They inculcate
fa lse p rin c ip le s. They e sta b lish bad h ab its. As an inevitable
consequence, sic k n ess and suffering abound. D isease o r debility
of som e v ital organ is the com m on lot ra th e r than the occasionable
fact. U ntim ely death is so freq u en t as no longer to excite s u r
p ris e . And m alad ies whose pains a re se v e re r than those of death
a re bequeathed from p a re n ts to ch ild ren as a d isa stro u s and p e r
petual h e rita g e . (45:111:150)
146
Only th o se c h ild ren who le a rn th e law s of p hysiology can be
ex p ected to beco m e p a re n ts who w ill p a ss th is know ledge, in the fo rm
of good habit fo rm a tio n , to th e ir c h ild re n . It is no a rg u m e n t, a c c o rd
ing to M ann, a g a in st the diffusion of p h y sio lo g ical o r any o th e r s c ie n
tific know ledge th a t the r e s u lts w ill not be im m e d ia te ly known through
out the w orld. Any tr a n s m is s io n of sc ie n tific know ledge to th e young
stu d e n ts is w orthw hile, M ann th in k s. F u rth e r , "it m ay be a lle g e d , "
M ann sa y s
. . . th at if a know ledge of P h y sio lo g y should b eco m e th e com m on
p o ss e s sio n of m ankind, it w ould p ro d u ce only p a r tia l b e n e fits , b e
c au se m en w ill not a c t a s w ell as th e y know how to a c t. . . . le t
the tru th of the a lle g a tio n be a d m itte d to its f u lle s t e x te n t; the
a n sw e r is , th at m en w ill n e v e r a ct b e tte r than th e y know ; and
h en ce, though re fo rm and a m e lio ra tio n m ay not, in a ll c a s e s ,
follow know ledge, y et th ey w ill follow it in m any, w hile they w ill
p re c e d e it in none. (45:111:128)
Mann, in this Sixth A nnual R e p o rt, includes a long d i s s e r t a
tio n on the fa c ts av ailab le a t th e tim e w hich show th e d e p lo ra b le sta te
of h e a lth throughout th e w o rld and in the U nited S ta te s . He quotes
fro m a n u m b er of m ed ica l a u th o ritie s a t th e tim e who say, in su m
m a ry
. . . one h a lf of a ll hum an d is a b ility , of the su ffe rin g and e a rly
d eath in flicte d upon m ankind, p ro c e e d s from ig n o ra n c e , fro m
s h e e r ig n o ran ce, of fa c ts and p rin c ip le s w hich e v e ry p a re n t, by
v irtu e of h is p a re n ta l r e la tio n s , is a s m uch bound to know as a
judge is bound to know th e c iv il o r c rim in a l law w hich he u n d e r
ta k e s to a d m in is te r. (45:111:132-33)
M ann m ak es a v e ry im p o rta n t d istin c tio n betw een p h y sio lo g y , w hich
he c a lls the sc ien c e of the law s of h e alth and life, and m ed icin e .
About th e se law s of h e a lth and life , he p o in ts out:
E v ery p e rso n is cap ab le of u n d erstan d in g th e m . E v e ry child
in the S ta te , b efore a rriv in g a t the age of e ig h teen y e a r s , m ight
a c q u ire a com petent know ledge of th e m , and of th e re a s o n s on
147
w hich th ey a re founded. The p ro fe ssio n of m ed icin e , on the o th er
hand, is m ainly c o n v e rsa n t w ith the Law s of D is e a s e . It is th e se
w hich a re so n u m b e rle ss and com plex a s to defy the p ro fo u n d est
ta le n t, and the study of the lo n g est and m o st a ssid u o u s life , fo r
th e ir thorough co m p reh en sio n . Infinity is th e ir a ttrib u te . E v ery
d ifferen ce of c lim a te , of occupation, of p e rso n a l c o n stitu tio n and
h a b its, m odified th e ir c h a ra c te r, m u ltip lie s th e ir n u m b er, and
p e rp le x e s th e ir in tric a c y . Hum an P hysiology, o r the sc ien c e of
h e alth and life , m ay be w ritte n in one book; fo r Pathology, o r the
scien ce of d is e a s e , thousands and te n thousands of books have
been w ritte n , and y et the su b ject se e m s, a t the p re s e n t tim e , to
be h a rd ly n e a re r exhaustion than in the age of G alen o r
H ip p o crates. (45:111:135-36)
As a way of p re se n tin g physiology to stu d en ts in the com m on
schools M ann's d istin c tio n is im p o rtan t. Mann does not p ro p o se to
tr a in everyone to becom e a d o cto r but, ra th e r, to tra in ev ery o n e in
the im p o rtan t w ays open to a ll in m ain tain in g h e alth and v ig o r in life.
P eople should be tra in e d in, as w ell as in te lle c tu a lly c o n v ersa n t w ith,
the sim ple daily ta sk s of m ain tain in g h ealth , w hich include such things
as taking e x e rc is e , b rea th in g o u t-d o o r a ir , not living in badly v e n ti
lated hom es, o r sch o o ls, re fra in in g fro m a ll fo rm s of overindulgence
in food and d rin k w hich im p a ir good h ealth . Mann u n d e rstan d s the
functioning of the v a rio u s o rg an s of the body to the extent of the s c i
en tific know ledge of h is day, and he a p p re c ia te s the fac t th at the fu n c
tio n al re la tio n sh ip s betw een the o rg an s have to be h arm o n io u s fo r the
m aintenance of h ealth .
Knowledge of sa n itatio n is a p a rt of the sc ie n c e of physiology.
" F o r the thorough diffusion of s a n ita ry in te llig en c e, " Mann continues
the Com m on School is the only agency. It is , how ever, an in a d e
quate agency. L et Hum an P hysiology be in tro d u ced a s an in d is
pensable b ran ch of study into o u r P ublic Schools; le t no te a c h e r
be approved who is not m a s te r of its leading p rin c ip le s, and of
th e ir ap p licatio n s to the v ary in g c irc u m s ta n c e s of life ; le t a ll the
o ld er c la s s e s in the schools be re g u la rly and rig id ly exam ined
148
upon th is study by the school c o m m itte e s, and a speedy change
w ould com e o v er o u r p e rs o n a l h a b its, o v e r o u r d o m e stic u sa g e s,
and o v e r the public a rra n g e m e n ts of so c iety . T e m p e ra n c e and
m o d e ra tio n would not be such s tr a n g e rs a t the ta b le . (37:52-53)
P hysiology, p h y sic al education, hygiene, and sa n ita ry e d u c a
tio n b ecam e p a rt of th e com m on school c u rric u lu m . T his is not
enough fo r M ann. Once the c h ild re n who a r e tra in e d in th is w ay b e
com e a d u lts, th ey w ill in tu rn m ake im p ro v e m e n ts in public h e a lth
and sa n ita tio n law s w hich w ill be in h a rm o n y w ith the law s of p h y sio l
ogy. In th is w ay the in tro d u c tio n of physiology into the c u rric u lu m
w ill have an e ffect on the h e alth of the w hole peo p le.
M oral E ducation
In m eetin g the p ro b le m of how to te a c h m o ra ls to c h ild re n ,
M ann fa c e s the m o st c o n tro v e rs ia l su b je ct of h is c a r e e r w ith the
S tate B o ard of E ducation. H is solution of the p ro b le m is one th a t a f
fe c ts sch o o ls today. He finds h im se lf, a s soon a s th e p ro b le m com es
out into open public d isc u ssio n , e m b ro ile d in the la s t-s ta n d b a ttle of
New E ngland C a lv in ists to m ain tain th e ir stra n g le h o ld on public m o
ra lity a s w ell a s childhood education. The c r is is o c c u rs w ith the a t
ta c k upon M ann by th e B oston S c h o o lm a ste rs and h is w ell-know n a n
sw er to th em . Once he had re p e lle d th e ir a tta c k he n e v e r again had
to do b a ttle w ith the C a lv in ists fo r the c h ild re n of M a ss a c h u se tts.
T he education a ct of 1827 fo rc e d a change in m o ra l ed u catio n .
U ntil then, C alv in ism had been taught in the public sch o o ls. The new
law sta te d th a t no s e c ta ria n c re e d could be tau g h t in the sc h o o ls. R e
ligion and m o ra lity w ere g e n e ra lly c o n sid e re d to be in se p a ra b le , so
M ann is re q u ire d by th is new law to invent new co n cep ts of m o ra l edu-
i 149
I cation.
I
|
: L e g isla to rs ra re ly enact law s th at a re very fa r ahead of public
thinking. The education act of 1827 e x p re sse d an a sp ect of the d e v el
opm ents in New England relig io n . U n itarian s w ere gaining a m a jo rity
in m any New England town m eetings and C ongregational ch u rch es.
Though lib e ra l in tren d even the U n itarian s of th at tim e did not think
of religion as being anything o th er than se c ta ria n .
Mann h im self n ev er conceives of m o rality as se p arab le from
relig io n . R ath er he stru g g les tow ard a concept of n o n -se c ta ria n r e
ligion to use as a base fo r m o ral education. He evolves a th eo ry that
th e re a re com m on elem en ts in all relig io n s. T hese com m on e le
m en ts a re plainly n o n -se c ta ria n because they a re held by a ll p ro te s -
tan t se c ts. (The p ro te sta n t se cts w ere the only p ra c tic a l concern of
th a t period in M a s s a c h u s e tts .)
Not su rp risin g ly , the elem en ts com m on to d ifferen t se cts a re
e sse n tia lly m o ra l p rin c ip le s. Mann w as not a jo in e r of ch u rch es.
When he finally joined the C h ristia n C hurch, as w as n e c e ssa ry to be
P re sid e n t of Antioch C ollege, he w as accused of having done so oppor
tu n istic ally . "The g re a t d o c trin es of m o ra lity and n a tu ra l theology"
i (45:11:424) provide the elem ents com m on to a ll se c ts. The Ten C om
m andm ents, the B eatitudes and the Golden Rule form the foundations.
F o r Mann these b asic m o ral p rin cip le s a re the co re of religion.
T hese a re what should be in co rp o rated into the teaching in the common
school.
The Bible can be read in the schools, Mann says m any tim e s;
but it should be done without com m ent. M cCluskey points out that
150
Mann r e f e r s to the King Ja m es V ersio n of the B ible and th at fro m a
A_
C atholic point of view , th is would be introducing s e c ta ria n is m into the
sc h o o ls. C re m in in d ic ate s th a t Mann a ssu m e s th a t the people of
M a ssa c h u se tts w ill, on the w hole, a g re e w ith his po sitio n . T hey did
a g re e w ith M ann's p o sitio n , C rem in ad d s, "once he had fought and d e
feated th e m o re vigorous s e c ta ria n s am ong th em " (9:13).
T hese m o ra l p rin c ip le s a re not to be in c o rp o ra te d into the
c u rric u lu m d ire c tly a s a sp e cific su b ject m a tte r. They a re to be the
underlying m o ra l p rin c ip le s behind a ll the su b je cts of the c u rric u lu m .
T hey a re to u n d erlie a ll the m ethods used by a sk illfu l te a c h e r.
Id eally the child can le a rn to becom e a m o ra l p e rso n fro m p rac tic in g
being one in the c la ss ro o m . T his fits into M ann's id eas of tra in in g
the young in c e rta in com m only accep ted v irtu e s like th o se contained
in the Golden Rule and the Ten C om m andm ents. T his can be done
w ithout offending any of the s e c ts , and, then, the p a re n ts can attend
to the s e c ta ria n education of th e ir own ch ild ren .
Mann thinks th a t it is e x tre m e ly im p o rta n t to d iv o rce the
schools fro m any s e c ta ria n p o sitio n . The com m on schools a re to be
schools w h ere c h ild re n fro m a ll c la s s e s and all se c ts m eet. Mann
fe e ls it would be v e ry d isru p tiv e to the com m on schools if any p a r tic
u la r s e c ta ria n p o sitio n is taught, since the p a re n ts of those c h ild re n
fro m o th er se c ts w ould w ithdraw th e ir ch ild ren . T his would not h a p
pen if the m o ra l p rin c ip le s w ere those w hich a re com m on to a ll m en
(28:87).
In his T w elfth Annual R ep o rt Mann continues to ra is e the b asic
a rg u m e n ts fo r m o ra l education in the com m on sch o o ls. He po in ts,
151
again, to the need fo r som eone to tra in people in such a way th at they
can becom e good. He then an aly zes the v a rio u s in stitu tio n s in so ciety
and com es to the conclusion th at th is task can only be done by the
com m on schools (37:90-98).
M usic Education
In th e last sectio n of his Eighth Annual R e p o rt, Mann p re s e n ts
the re a so n s fo r introducing vocal m usic education into the c u rric u lu m
of the com m on schools (33:117-136). Mann points out th at a ll m en in
a ll ages have p rac tic ed the a r t of vocal m u sic . "A m ongst a ll nations,
joy h as its chorus, and so rro w its d irg e" (33:117). All m en have the
voice and the ear, the e sse n tia ls to cultivating the a rt. Mann fee ls
th is a r t has points of su p e rio rity to o th ers of the five a r ts . It is
n e ith er as expensive n o r as cu m b erso m e. E ach m an c a rrie s h is own
in stru m e n t w ith him . " P re s e n t at a ll tim e s, " Mann sta te s
unburdensom e, a m eans of gratu ito u s so lace, an inexpensive lu x
u ry , --w h at other of the refining a rts o ffers inducem ents fo r c u l
tiv atio n so u n iv ersal, o r rew ard s th at cultivation w ith bounties so
gen ero u s and m anifold? (33:119)
Mann points to what he co n sid ers a distin ctio n betw een "the g ra tific a
tions of the in tellect, and the p le a su re s of ta s te and sentim ent" (33:
119). The in tellect dem ands novelty. A fter solving one problem , it
looks fo r new fields to conquer. But w ith the "p le a su re s of sen tim en t,
th e re is a different situ atio n . The e a rlie s t and sim p le st m elodies o r
songs a re capable of affording an ev er-ren ew in g delight" (33:120).
The old songs never grow old. "E ven in the m atu re m ind, they have
lo st none of the c h arm s w hich invested them in its youth" (33:120).
T his is why song can "fu rn ish p lea su re o r re lie f when o th er m ental
152
g ra tific a tio n cannot be com m anded" (33:120). In fact m usic can be
found w hich is a joy, a co m fort, a re s to ra tiv e fo r a lm o st any hum an
situ atio n .
Mann fu rth e r points out that one does not have to be a v ery
skilled p e rso n in the a r t to enjoy it. Of c o u rse, "those who u n d e r
stand the subject b e st, " he say s, "w ill enjoy it m ost; but s till p ro fi
ciency is not indispensable to p le a su re " (33:121).
Mann points to the fact th at the schools in P ru s s ia have had
m u sic as p a rt of th e ir p ra c tic e fo r m any y e a rs . Mann feels that this
m ay be one re a so n th e ir room s a re so o rd e rly , they ra re ly need to
d iscip lin e w ith c o rp o ra l punishm ent. All P ru s sia n te a c h e rs are
tra in e d in both the th eo ry and p ra c tic e of vocal m u sic (33:122) and
p e rfo rm on one o r m o re in stru m e n ts.
Mann re m a rk s th at when the B oston school com m ittee in 1839
s ta rte d re g u la r in stru c tio n in vocal m u sic in all the G ra m m a r and
W riting schools, " g re a t doubts w ere en tertain ed by m any intelligent
people, as to the expediency of the m e a su re " (33:123). Six y e a rs later,
everyone was v ery happy with the re s u lts . What was begun as an ex
p e rim en t has becom e a re g u la r p a rt of the school p ro g ram . Mann
points out that th is sam e re s u lt has taken place w h erev er vocal m usic
has been introduced in the schools.
Mann then d isc u sse s som e of the specific n o n-m usical benefits
of p racticin g vocal m u sic. He says th at it p rom otes health
. . . d ire c tly , by the e x e rc ise which it gives to the lungs and
o th er vital o rg an s; and in d ire c tly , by the ch eerfu ln ess and genial
flow of s p irits , w hich it is the e sp ec ial p rero g a tiv e of m u sic to
bestow . (33:124)
153
V ocal m u sic a lso can fu rn ish "the m ean s of in te lle c tu a l e x e r
c is e " (33:125). T h ere a re tech n ical re la tio n s in m u sic w hich can be
le a rn e d in te lle c tu a lly and w hich a re not beyond the c a p a c itie s of
school c h ild ren .
"B ut, " says Mann, "the social and m o ra l influences of m u sic
fa r tra n s c e n d s, in value, a ll its p hysical o r in te lle ctu al u tilitie s "
(33:126). Mann expounds on th is them e at g re a t length. M usic can
be used to effect m en in m any w ays. It a ro u s e s m en to g re a te r effo rt
in w ar and at w ork, it lu lls them to sle ep , it aid s at tim e s of so rro w
and it can be used to bring m en to g eth er and give them stro n g feelings
of co m ra d esh ip and unity of p u rpose. "If m u sic has such pow er over
m en, " Mann a sk s, "is it not evident th at it w ill have s till g re a te r
pow er o v er c h ild re n ? " (33:128).
M ann, the p o litician , fends off objections to singing in the
schools w ith judicious bows tow ards the P ilg rim fa th e rs , te m p e re d
by a little c ritic is m . The problem w ill be to provide adequate te a c h
e r s . Mann lam en ts the fac t th at New E n g lan d ers have produced few
p e rso n s who can te a c h the a rt. "We a re , " he sta te s
an u n -m u sica l, --n o t to say, an a n ti-m u s ic a l people. No h e re d i
ta ry ta s te fo r the a rt has descended to u s. O ur P ilg rim F a th e rs
w ere too s te rn a ra c e , and th e ir souls w ere occupied by in te re s ts
too m ighty and a ll-a b so rb in g to afford them e ith e r le is u re of in
clination to cultivate m u sic as a refin e m e n t o r an em b ellish m en t
of life . Hence throughout New England, since the f ir s t s e ttle
m ent of the colonies, a high d eg ree of m u sic a l sk ill has been a
r a r e accom plishm ent; and, with the exception of ch u rch m u sic,
the m a ss of the population have been s tra n g e rs , if not w o rse than
s tra n g e rs , to the a rt. (33:129)
Mann goes into d e ta il on the d ifficu lties w hich w ill have to be overcom e
to find com petent te a c h e rs . The la rg e c itie s and towns should be able
154
to solve the p ro b lem e a sily , but it w ill be m o re d ifficu lt in the sm a lle r
tow ns. H ow ever the new te a c h e rs who w ill com e fro m the n o rm a l
sch o o ls w ill be tra in e d in vocal m u sic and th is w ill be a g re a t h elp .
Soon th e re w ill be pupils who w ill exhibit sk ill in th is a re a , and th e ir
ta le n ts should be u sed . Even in d is tr ic ts w h ere n e ith e r te a c h e r n o r
stu d en t can give in stru c tio n , th e re w ill p ro b ab ly be som e lady o r g e n
tle m a n who h a s the tra in in g and w ill be able to help. Mann is c e rta in
th a t th ey w ill "o cc a sio n ally v is it th e school, and im p a rt the know ledge
u n attain ab le fro m any o th e r so u rc e " (33:131).
T his w hole p ro c e ss w ill, a cc o rd in g to M ann, " g e n e ra te a co n
c e r t of actio n throughout the C om m onw ealth" (33:131). In a v e ry
sh o rt tim e , he fe e ls , know ledge of the a r t should be diffused th rough
th e sta te .
Mann rem in d s the B oard th a t the in tro d u ctio n of m u sic w ill
c re a te a dem and fo r songs and song books. E v e r a le r t to the New
E ngland co n scien ce in e v e ry v o ter Mann a s s e r ts th at c a re m u st be
tak en th at the new songs w ritte n and the new books be com posed w ith
th e m o ra l w ell-being of the c h ild re n in m ind.
C la ssro o m M eth o d s--.T each er Q u alificatio n
Among the m o st im p o rtan t of H orace M ann's c o n trib u tio n s to
education innovations w ere in c la ss ro o m m ethods and te a c h e r q u a lifi
catio n . In w ritin g on th e se to p ic s, M ann follow s h is u su al p ro c e d u re ,
fo rm u la tin g a th e o re tic a l explanation and ju stific a tio n fo r h is sp ecific
p ro p o sa ls.
The th e o rie s of P e sta lo z z i w ere an im p o rtan t influence on
Mann. "Since the tim e of P e sta lo z z i" Mann acknow ledges
155
th e re has been sc a rc e ly any d ifference of opinion am ong the
leading ed u cato rs of E urope and A m erica, as to the tru e and p h il
osophical m ethod of in stru ctio n . W ith one consent, th e ir d ecisio n
is in favor of the ex h ib ito ry , explanatory and inductive m eth o d .-
T his m ethod is the opposite of tne d o g m atic. The la tte r m ethod
co n sists in laying down a b s tra c t ru le s , fo rm u las, o r th eo rem s in
a p o sitiv e, au th o ratativ e m an n er, and req u irin g the fo rm s of
w ords in which the a b stra c tio n s a re e x p re sse d to be com m itted
to m em o ry . Of c o u rse, the p rin cip le em bodied in th ese form s of
w ords, is to be receiv ed by the le a rn e r, w hether he u n d erstan d s
it o r not, and w ithout any inquiry, on h is p a rt, w hether it be tru e
o r fa lse . But, on the P e sta lo z zia n m ethod nothing w hich lies b e
yond the re a c h of intuition is a s s e rte d , without being explained.
(34:150)
If a g e n eral o r com plex idea is introduced it is broken down to
its sim ple and m o re understandable com ponents. E v ery effo rt is
m ade to have the child s ta rt w ith ex p erien ces of th ese sim p le elem en ts
in the e a sie st and m o st understandable w ay in w hich they can be ex
p erien ced . Then the child is guided through the p ro c e ss of e x p e ri
encing m ore and m o re com plex objects to the final understanding of
the g e n eral id ea s. Mann points out that, until rec en tly , the dogm atic
m ethod was u n iv ersally p ra c tic e d in M assach u setts sch o o ls. This is
not the case now, Mann in d ic ate s. "A rithm etic, " he points out
w as taught w ithout o ral e x e rc is e s, o r the blackboard; geography,
without globes, m aps o r m ap -d raw in g ; g ram m ar, by the en d less
rep e titio n s of governm ent and ag reem en t, m ood and te n se , g en
d e r, num ber and c ase . . . . But such a change has taken place,
in th is re sp e c t, that, at p re se n t, th e re is not one of our f ir s t-
c la ss schools, w here the p rin cip les of a rith m e tic a re not ex
plained; w here w ords a re not defined, and the m eaning of the a u
th o r p a ra p h ra se d . . . (34:153-54)
T h ere is no doubt that th is m ethod of sta rtin g w ith sim ple e le
m en ts and by induction getting to the g e n eral or a b s tra c t ideas is an
im provem ent over the so -c a lle d dogm atic m ethod. It m ay, how ever,
be an im provem ent because the dogm atic m ethod included no ex p lan a
156
tio n and not b e ca u se it is in d u ctiv e. As D e s c a rte s pointed out, it is
a lm o st alw ays w orthw hile s ta rtin g w ith the sim p le id e a s and building
up to th e com plex id e a s . T h is m ethod cannot be rig id ly held, how
e v e r, a s it can only be su c c e ss fu l in a re a s w hich a re am en ab le to th is
s o rt of m ethod. O ften, ho w ev er, it is im p o rta n t to u n d e rsta n d th a t
w hat we e x p erien c e d ire c tly is co m p lex to begin w ith. T h is is p ro b a
bly m o re often tru e th an not. H ere we often m u st u se an an aly tic
m ethod and an aly ze the com plex o b ject e x p e rie n c e d in to its s im p le r
com ponents. T h is, alone, w ill not alw ays b rin g u n d e rstan d in g .
T h e re m u st be an u n d e rstan d in g of the o b jec t e x p e rie n c e d . If in e x
p e rie n c e it is a "sim p le , " th en its re la tio n s w ith its context m u st be
in v e stig a te d .
The ex p lan atio n of the P e s ta lo z z i m ethod involves m uch m o re
than th a t it is the "in d u ctiv e m ethod, " though th is a s p e c t of it is e m
p h a size d by Mann. It in clu d es a s eq u ally , and p e rh a p s m o re im p o r
tan t, th e attem p t to explain in su ch a m a n n e r th a t the stu d en t u n d e r
sta n d s. T hen, m e m o ry is not m e re ly " ro te m e m o ry " but involves
u n d e rstan d in g and th e re fo re e lic its in te r e s t on the p a rt of th e stu d en t.
T hat M ann g ra sp e d th is is obvious as w ill be se e n in h is d isc u ssio n of
teach in g c h ild re n to re a d .
M otives
U nderlying a ll su c c e ssfu l le a rn in g is the m o tiv a tio n of the s tu
dent. E v ery th in g p o ssib le should be done to stim u la te and en co u rag e
the stu d en t to w ish to le a rn . M ann u n d e rsta n d s th a t the child s ta r ts
w ith n a tu ra l c u rio s ity and stro n g d e s ir e s to u n d e rsta n d his w o rld .
T his n a tu ra l tendency m u st not be stifle d in the c la s s ro o m . It m u st,
157
ra th e r, be cultivated and channeled into a sp ecific d e s ire fo r know l
edge in the v arious a re a s taught in the com m on school.
Mann speaks of P e sta lo z z i again when he says th at "the c h il
d re n 's w ant of in te re s t in th e ir stu d ies, in his day, w as a lm o st u n i
v e rs a lly re fe ra b le to a w ant of sk ill in those who had ch arg e of them "
(34:136). The sam e is tru e in any c la ssro o m situ atio n . The lack of
m otivation on the p a rt of the student if not caused by m ethods applied
by the te a c h e r, can, v ery often, be c o rre c te d by the application on
the p a rt of the te a c h e r, of c o rre c t m ethods (34:136-46). The key
point, Mann say s, is th at "e v e ry pupil should be m ade c le a rly to see,
and deeply to feel, that his fortune is in his own hands" (34:144-45).
He should be shown by w hat happens in the c la ssro o m that he can
le a rn what should be le a rn e d and the p ro c e ss should be p leasan t, in
te re stin g , and exciting.
T eaching Reading
Mann thinks reading can be taught m o re su c ce ssfu lly by
sta rtin g w ith w ords ra th e r than the alphabet. "D uring the f ir s t y e a r
of a c h ild 's life, " Mann explains,
he p e rc e iv e s, thinks, and a c q u ire s som ething of a sto re of id eas,
w ithout any re fe re n c e to w ord or le tte r s . A fter th is, the w o n d er
ful faculty of language begins to develop itse lf. C hildren then u t
t e r w ords, - -the nam es of objects around them , - -a s whole
sounds, and w ithout any conception of the le tte rs of w hich those
w ords a re com posed. In speaking the w ord 'apple, ' fo r in stan ce,
young ch ild ren think no m o re of the Rom an le tte rs w hich sp ell it,
than, in eating the fru it, they think of the chem ical in g re d ie n ts- -
the oxygen, hydrogen, and c arb o n --w h ich com pose it. Hence,
p resen tin g them w ith the alphabet, is giving them what they n ev er
saw, h eard , o r thought of b efo re. It is as new as a lg e b ra, and,
to the eye, not very unlike it. But p rin ted nam es of known things
a re the signs of sounds w hich th e ir e a rs have been accu sto m ed to
158
h e a r, and th e ir o rg an s of sp e ec h to u tte r, and w hich m ay ex cite
a g re e a b le fee lin g s and a s s o c ia tio n s , by rem in d in g th em of the o b
je c ts nam ed. When put to le a rn in g the le tte r s of the alp h ab et
f ir s t, the child has no acq u ain tan ce w ith th e m , e ith e r w ith the
eye, the e a r , the tongue, and the m ind; but if put to le a rn in g
fa m ilia r w o rd s f ir s t, he a lre a d y knows th em by the e a r , the
tongue, and th e m ind; w hile the eye only is u n acquainted w ith
th e m . He is th u s in tro d u c ed to a s tra n g e r th ro u g h th e m ed iu m of
old a c q u a in ta n c e s. It can h a rd ly be doubted, th e re fo re , th a t a
child w ould le a rn to nam e any tw e n ty -six fa m ilia r w o rd s m uch
so o n e r th an the tw e n ty -six unknown, u n h eard , and unthou ght-of
le tte r s of the a lp h a b e t." (45:11:520-21)
M ann re m a rk s th a t the w ord m ethod has been su c c e ss fu lly p ra c tic e d
in the c ity of B oston fo r som e y e a r s . He is attem p tin g to g et it in tr o
duced th ro u g h o u t th e s ta te . A n u m b er of y e a rs la te r , in h is fam ous
Seventh A nnual R e p o rt, w hich su m m a riz e d h is tr ip to E u ro p e, M ann
re p o r ts th at a ll the ex ce llen t sch o o ls w hich he v isite d th e re used the
w ord m ethod in teach in g read in g .
Spelling and P honics
The a p p ro a c h M ann b ro u g h t to the tir e d p ro b lem of E n g lish
sp ellin g is as f r e s h today as it w as when he m ade it. V ery few A m e r
ica n c ritic s of education re a liz e th a t such an a n a ly sis w as m ade in the
1840's.
The le tte r s of the alp h ab et, taken s e p a ra te ly , a re pronounced
d iffe re n tly th an w hen th ey a re in the context of a w ord. In o rd e r to
le a rn how to sp e ll, th e re fo re , it w ill be of little help to le a rn to p r o
nounce the le tte r s of the alp h ab et s e p a ra te ly . The sounds of the l e t
t e r s a ll "se e m to m a sq u e ra d e , " sa y s Mann (45:11:521). He a s k s ,
w here is the alp h ab etic sound of o in the w o rd s w o rd , dove,
plough, enough, o th e r, and in in n u m e rab le o th e rs . . “ t h e
consequence is , th a t w henever the child m e e ts h is old frie n d s in
new com pany, like ro g u e s, th ey have a ll changed th e ir n a m e s.
T hus the know ledge of th e sounds of le tte r s in th e alp h ab et co m es
159
an o b sta cle to the rig h t pro n o u n ciatio n of w o rd s; and th e m o re
p e rfe c t the know ledge, the g r e a te r the o b sta c le . " (45:11:521-22)
L earn in g the p ronounciation of the alp h ab et th e re fo re gives one no
ex ac t idea of how a w ord is pronounced. The r e v e r s e is th en tr u e .
P ronouncing a w ord does not in d icate e x actly how it is sp e lle d . The
b e s t way to le a rn sp ellin g , M ann fe e ls , is to p ra c tic e w ritin g w o rd s.
One can th en a lm o st develop an au to m atic sp ellin g tech n iq u e. In fa c t,
M ann say s
. . . the m o re one r e lie s upon h is re a so n to d e te rm in e the tru e
sp ellin g of E nglish w o rd s, the o ften e r he w ill m ista k e . . . I
p re su m e it has happened to m any p e rso n s when w ritin g , th at if
they could w rite one of the le s s com m on w o rd s, w ithout thinking
how it should be sp e lt, th ey would w rite it c o rre c tly ; but if by
any chance, the in q u iry how it should be sp e lt a ro s e in th e ir
m in d s, they would im m e d ia te ly be involved in doubts, w hich no
reaso n in g could so lv e, and be obliged to tu rn to a d ictio n ary .
T h ese fa c ts in d icate a lso , th at sp ellin g should be p u rsu e d to an
age when m o re is le a rn e d by p e rc e p tio n and im itatio n than by r e
flec tio n . (45:11:523-24)
The Use of W ords
Mann has a g re a t deal to say on the use of language. As h as
been pointed out, he fe e ls th at the u se of language is e s s e n tia l to the
developm ent of m en as ra tio n a l b ein g s. In re g a rd to the question of
le a rn in g to use w ords c o rre c tly , Mann h as a m a jo r injunction
one thing should be in siste d upon, fro m the beginning, and e s p e
c ia lly at the beginning. No w ord should be taught, w hose m eaning
is not u nderstood. The te a c h e r should not count out w ords f a s te r
than id e a s. The foundation of the h ab it should be laid , in the
read in g of the v ery f ir s t le sso n , of re g a rd in g w ords a s the nam es
of th in g s; as belonging to som ething e ls e , and a s nothing by th e m
se lv e s . They should be looked at as a m edium , and not as an end.
(45:111:524)
M ann fe e ls th a t the use of spelling books often m isle a d s ch ild ren in the
use of w o rd s. "In Scotland, " he say s
160
the Spelling Book is c alle d the Spell Book, and we ought to adopt
th a t a p p ellatio n h e re , fo r, as it is often u se d w ith u s, it does c a s t
a sp e ll o v e r th e fa c u ltie s of c h ild re n , w hich, g e n e ra lly , th ey do
not b re a k fo r y e a r s ;- - a n d o fte n tim e s, we b e lie v e , n e v er. If any
two th in g s on e a rth should be put to g e th e r and k ep t to g e th e r, one
would suppose th at it should be th e idea of a thing and the n am e
of th a t thing. The sp ellin g book, h o w ev er, is a m o st a rtfu l and
e la b o ra te co n triv an c e, by w hich w o rd s a re se p a ra te d fro m th e ir
m ea n in g s, so th a t the w ords can be tr a n s f e r r e d into the m ind of
the pupil, w ithout p e rm ittin g any g lim m e r of the m eaning to a c
com pany th em . A sp ellin g book is a c o llec tio n of signs w ithout
the thing s ig n ifie d ;--o f w ords w ithout s e n s e ;- - a d ic tio n a ry w ith
out d e fin itio n s. It is a place w h e re w ords a re sh u t up and im
pounded so th a t th e ir sig n ific atio n s cannot get at th em . The v e ry
notion of language is th a t it is a v eh icle of thought and feelin g
fro m m ind to m ind. W ithout the thought and feelin g the v e h icle
goes em pty. P re ten d in g to c a r r y fre ig h t, it c a r r ie s no fre ig h t.
To becom e fa m ilia r w ith things and th e ir p ro p e rtie s , w ithout any
know ledge of th e nam es by w hich th e y a re c alled , would be the
p a rt of beings, who had in te llig e n c e , but no fac u lty of sp eech ;
but to le a rn n a m e s, w ithout the th in g s o r p ro p e rtie s sig n ified , is
su re ly the p a rt of b ein g s, who have sp eech , but no in te llig e n c e .
(45:V:177 -78)
M ann points out th a t it is p o ssib le to develop v e rb a l fa c ility w ith little
u n d erstan d in g of w hat the w o rd s o r the se n te n c e s signify. T h is, of
c o u rs e , is not a goal in education. The goal is "w ords fitly spoken"
(45:11:70). In the c la s s ro o m situ atio n it is im p o rta n t to m ake c e r ta in
th a t the c h ild re n do not ju s t use w o rd s w ithout u n d erstan d in g th e ir
m ean in g s. If th ey develop the w rong h a b its h e re and do becom e fa c ile
in the use of w ords w ithout re g a rd fo r th e ir m ean in g s, th e re can be
som e s ta rtlin g re s u lts . In attem p tin g a com position on a su b ject
about w hich they know little , they m ig h t w rite a g re a t d eal. M ann
say s th at "the outw ard and v isib le sign of co m p o sitio n is a sh e e t fu ll
of w o rd s" (45:11:72). H ow ever the sh e e t can be filled w ith w o rd s and
s till have little o r not sig n ifican t m ean in g . If th e p ra c tic e is not
checked, in d iv id u als can becom e p ra c tic e d at th is p ro c e d u re . "T h is
p ra c tic e com es at la s t, " say s Mann, m uch m o re ta r tly than u su al
161
w ith him ,
to m ake them a kind of sp o rtm en o r w a rrio rs , who think th e ir
whole b u sin ess is to fire , not to h it. Som e, who have a stro n g
v e rb a l m em o ry , becom e dextrous in the use of language, so th at,
if they can have two id eas, on any subject, to se t up at the ends,
as te rm in i, they w ill fill up w ith w ords any d istan ce of space b e
tw een them . T hose who have not th is v erb al m em ory, becom e
the w ind-driven bubbles of those who have. When the habit is
confirm ed, of rely in g on the v e rb a l facility , the r e s t of the m ind
dies out. The dogm a taught by A risto tle , th at N ature ab h o rs a
vacuum , is e x p erim en tally refu ted . I know of but one co m p en sa
tion fo r th ese w o rd -m en ; I believe they n ev er becom e insane.
Insanity re q u ire s som e m ind fo r a b a s is . " (45:11:72)
E x e rc ise and R epetition
The pow ers of an individual a re developed by e x e rc is e a c c o rd
ing to Mann. R epetition is one way of e x e rc isin g . It is vital to the
developm ent of both p h y sical and m ental health that the p ro p e r s o rt of
e x e rc ise be rep eated . T his ru le , according to Mann, ap p lies to "the
p ercep tiv e and re fle c tiv e in te lle c t" (45:11:122) as w ell as to bodily
functions. Mann fe e ls th at only by the c o rre c t and rep e titiv e use of
his pow ers to o b serv e, to re fle c t, and to judge, can a m an develop
th ese pow ers to th e ir highest lev el. As a co u rtro o m law yer, Mann
observed, m any tim e s, the phenom ena of two people d escrib in g the
sam e event so d ifferen tly that it did not ap p ear to be the sam e event.
He knew th at hum an beings could develop th e ir sk ills in p ercep tio n ,
reflectio n and judgm ent by long p ra c tic e of using those pow ers which
ev ery n o rm al hum an being has.
T hat this e x e rc ise need not be rep e titio u s o r dull Mann u n d e r
stands w ell enough, when he w arn s,
but h e re a ris e s a dem and of g re a t sk ill, aptitude and re s o u rc e s ,
on the p a rt of the te a c h e r; fo r by continuing to e x e rc is e the sam e
faculty, I do not m ean a m onotonous rep etitio n of the sam e action,
162
n o r a p e rp e tu a l p re s e n ta tio n of the sam e o b ject o r id ea. Such a
c o u rs e would soon cloy and d isg u st, and th u s te rm in a te a ll e ffo rt
in th a t d ire c tio n . W ould a child e v e r le a rn to d an ce, if th e re
w e re but one fig u re ; o r to sing, if th e re w e re but one tu n e ? N a
tu re , sc ie n c e , a r t, o ffer a b o u n d less v a rie ty of o b je c ts and p r o
c e s s e s , adapted to quicken and em ploy e a c h of th e fa c u ltie s .
T h ese re s o u rc e s the te a c h e r should have a t his com m and, and
should m ake u se of th em , in the o rd e r, and fo r th e p e rio d , th a t
each p a rtic u la r c a se m ay re q u ire . (45:11:122-23)
T he sam e p rin c ip le s a r e involved in the c h a r a c te r d ev elo p m en t of the
c h ild re n w hich, a cc o rd in g to M ann, "is alw ays fo rm in g . No p la c e ,
no com panion, is w ithout an influence upon it, and at school it is
fo rm e d m o re ra p id ly th an an y w h ere e ls e " (45:11:119). A ctive p a r tic i
patio n is w hat M ann c a lls " tra in in g . " E ducation has c o n siste d , too
m uch, in the te a c h e r "te llin g " the stu d e n ts the a n s w e rs , M ann sa y s.
C h ild ren m u st be in te re s te d and involved in "doing" th e thinking, the
re a d in g , th e speaking, and the w ritin g . The v a rio u s a b ilitie s of the
le a r n e r only develop by s e lf-d riv e n e x e rc is e (45:11:121).
T e a c h e r T ra in in g
H o race M ann re a liz e s th a t it is im p o ssib le to g e t te a c h e rs
who a re b e tte r than public opinion d em an d s. One way the pu b lic shows
its in te re s t in ed u catio n is in the value it p la c e s on good te a c h e rs ,
both in te r m s of fin an c ia l re m u n e ra tio n and of so c ia l p re s tig e . If the
com m unity w ish es b e tte r te a c h e rs , the value placed upon th e ir w ork
w ill have to be h ig h e r.
M ann's e n tire 12 y e a rs w ith the State B o ard of E ducation w ere
sp en t in w orking on th e p ro b le m s involved in developing the h ig h est
p o ssib le q u ality in te a c h e rs . He in d ic a te s in re p o rt a fte r re p o r t and
le c tu re a fte r le c tu re th a t th is involves a dual e ffo rt: (1) ed u catin g
163
the public on the im p o rtan c e of fre e public education and of good
te a c h e rs and (2) developing a concept of w hat is involved in good
teaching and w hat is involved in developing good te a c h e rs . If the f ir s t
goal can be ach iev ed , it would lead to the public dem anding good
te a c h e rs . T his would, in tu rn , le a d to the public su p p o rt of m e a s u re s
needed to se c u re g o o d .te a c h e rs. T his would involve, acco rd in g to
M ann, developm ent of th e m ean s of tra in in g te a c h e rs .
In M ann's tim e , a ll th a t one needed to te a c h in the com m on
school w as th e a b ility to m ain tain d isc ip lin e . If any m o re w as thought
n e c e s s a ry , it w as th at the te a c h e r have ju s t enough m a s te ry of any
su b ject tau g h t, to be ab le to sta y one step ahead of the stu d en ts. T his
w as c o n sid ere d the m inim um re q u ire m e n t fo r a te a c h e r. Of c o u rse ,
if one who w e re b e tte r qualified, w e re a v a ila b le , he should be h ire d .
Q u alificatio n s w e re n o rm a lly m e a su re d in te r m s of the lev el of m a s
te ry of the su b je c ts taught in the sch o o ls.
Though th e re w e re te a c h e r tra in in g schools in som e of the
c o u n tries in E u ro p e, v e ry little w as known about th e ir sp e cific a c tiv
itie s and c u rric u lu m in the U nited S ta te s. H o race M ann, in d ev elo p
ing a concept of the q u alificatio n s of a good te a c h e r and how to tra in
one, w as b lazin g a new tr a il in the field of education.
M ann sa y s th at he m u st "sp e ak of e r r o r s and d e fic ie n c ie s, and
of the inadequate conceptions now e n te rta in e d of the tru e office and
m issio n of a te a c h e r" (45:11:103). He c o n sid e rs th is a "painful o b li
gation" and say s th at
to w ard s the te a c h e rs of o u r s c h o o ls --a s a c la s s , - - I c e rta in ly
p o s s e s s none but the m o st f ra te rn a l fe e lin g s. T h e ir w ant of a d e
quate q u alificatio n s is the w ant of the tim e s , r a th e r th an th e m -
164
s e lv e s . (45:11:103-104)
T h e re is m u ch m o re involved in good te a c h in g th an m a s te r y of th e
su b je c t m a tte r to be tau g h t, though th is m a s te r y is n e c e s s a ry in o rd e r
fo r anyone to b eco m e a good te a c h e r . "T each in g is the m o st d iffic u lt
of a ll th e a r t s , " M ann sa y s
and th e p ro fo u n d e st of a ll th e s c ie n c e s . In its a b so lu te p e r f e c
tio n , it w ould involve a c o m p le te know ledge of th e w hole being to
be ta u g h t, and of th e p r e c is e m a n n e r in w hich e v e ry p o ss ib le a p
p lic a tio n w ould a ffe c t it; th a t is , a co m p lete know ledge of a ll the
p o w e rs and c a p a c itie s of th e in d iv id u a l, w ith th e ir e x a c t p ro p o r
tio n s and re la tio n s to each o th e r, and a know ledge, how , a t any
h o u r o r m o m en t, to s e le c t and apply, fro m a u n iv e rs e of m e a n s,
the one th en e x a c tly o p p o site to its e v e r-c h a n g in g condition. B ut
in a f a r m o re lim ite d and p r a c tic a l s e n s e , it involves a know ledge
of th e p rin c ip a l law s of p h y s ic a l, m e n ta l, and m o ra l g ro w th , and
of th e ten d en cy of m e a n s, not m o re to im m e d ia te th a n to re m o te
g o a ls ." (45:11:420)
T he fu n d am e n ta l q u a lific a tio n s fo r te a c h e r s can be a c q u ire d w ith the
p ro p e r tra in in g . T e a c h e rs could not be e x p ec te d to have th e m w ith
out th e p ro p e r tra in in g . T h is tra in in g can be p ro v id ed by n o rm a l
sc h o o ls w hich a re d e sig n ed to be te a c h e r tra in in g in stitu tio n s .
N ot e v ery o n e u n d e rs ta n d s th e im p o rta n c e of th e s e sc h o o ls. In
sp eak in g of th e e n th u s ia sm g e n e ra te d by E dm ond D w ight's gift, w hich
w as m atch e d by th e L e g is la tu re fo r th e d e v elo p m en t of th e f i r s t n o r
m a l sch o o l, M ann p r a is e s D w ight's high hopes fo r gaining m any good
te a c h e rs fo r th e S tate of M a s s a c h u s e tts . " L e t us not d e ce iv e o r f l a t
t e r o u rs e lv e s w ith the b e lie f, he a d d s, " th a t su ch an opinion v e ry
g e n e ra lly p re v a ils , o r is v e ry deeply se a te d . " M ann u n d e rs ta n d s,
p o litic a lly , th a t "an y p lan fo r c a rry in g out th is p ro je c t, h o w ev er
w ise ly fra m e d , w ill have to e n c o u n te r not only the p re ju d ic e s of the
ig n o ra n t, but the h o s tility of th e s e lfis h " (45:11:103).
I
165
In h is re m a rk s at the d e d ic atio n of the B rid g e w a te r State N o r
m al School, A ugust 19, 1846, M ann e m p h a siz e s h is idea of the b ro ad
sig n ifican ce he se e s ,
I b eliev e N o rm al Schools to be a new in stru m e n ta lity in the a d
vancem ent of the ra c e . I b eliev e th a t, w ithout them , F re e
Schools th e m se lv e s would be sh o rn of th e ir stre n g th and th e ir
healing pow er, and would a t length becom e m e re c h a rity sch o o ls,
and thus die out in fact and in fo rm . (45:V:219)
N o rm al sch o o ls a re s e t up to do the sp ecific job of tra in in g
te a c h e rs . Many have thought th a t the a ca d em ie s and co lleg es could
do th is job, w hich involved tra in in g th o u san d s of te a c h e rs needed by
the grow ing com m on school sy ste m in th e State. T im e h as pro v en
they could not handle the ta s k of tra in in g te a c h e rs , according to M ann.
He sa y s th at "a c a d e m ie s a re good in th e ir p lace; c o lleg e s a re good in
th e ir p lace. B oth have done invaluable se rv ic e to the cau se of e d u c a
tion" (45:V :222-23). H ow ever, Mann continues, it is "m y firm con
viction, th a t if the w o rk is to be left in th e ir h ands, we n e v er can
have a supply of com petent te a c h e rs fo r o u r com m on sch o o ls" (45:V:
223).
The n o rm al schools w e re d esig n ed to develop teach in g as a
p ro fe ssio n . T hey w ere the only schools o rg an ized w ith th is p a rtic u la r
goal in m ind. Mann w as the key p e rso n involved in both p o p u larizin g
the idea of the n o rm a l schools and in getting th em s ta rte d . In his
T w elfth A nnual R e p o rt, su m m arizin g th e ach iev em en ts of 12 y e a rs in
the developm ent of the com m on schools and "of th e sp e c ia l in s tru m e n
ta litie s by w hich th e se im p ro v em en ts have been effected , " M ann a s
sig n s f ir s t p lace "in ad ap ted n ess and in efficiency to o u r State N orm al
Schools" (37:27). "C om m on schools w ill n ev er p ro s p e r, " M ann con-
166
tin u e s,
w ithout N o rm al S chools. As w ell m ight we ex p ect to have coats
w ithout a ta ilo r, and h a ts w ithout a h a tte r, and w atches w ithout a
w a tch m ak e r, and h o u se s w ithout c a rp e n te r o r m aso n , a s to have
an adequate supply of co m p eten t te a c h e rs w ithout N o rm al
S c h o o ls." (37:27-28)
Child P sychology fo r T e a c h e rs
M ann is continually involved in developing p sy ch o lo g ical gen
e ra liz a tio n s about c h ild re n th a t a re im p o rta n t fo r te a c h e rs to know.
T h is is , in e sse n c e , the e n tire su b je ct of c la s s ro o m m eth o d s. All
c la s s ro o m m ethods a re , fo r Mann, b a sed on p sychological g e n e ra li
z atio n s about the le a rn in g p ro c e s s in c h ild re n . It is the function of
the n o rm al schools to te a c h th e se v a rio u s p sy ch o lo g ical p rin c ip le s to
the te a c h e rs . F o r M ann, they a re a ll b ased on h is so c ial philosophy
and h is a n a ly sis of the n a tu re of m an and m a n 's re la tio n sh ip to the
w o rld . E v ery te a c h e r, M ann fe e ls, should know th a t the c h a ra c te r
fo rm a tio n of a child is a continuous p ro c e s s . E v ery situ atio n in
w hich the child is involved has its effects on his c h a ra c te r. T his is
tru e in the school situ atio n . Thus the te a c h e r is involved in helping
shape the c h a ra c te r of e ac h child in h is c h a rg e . He should be aw are
of th is and a ssu m e the im p lied re s p o n sib ility . In school, "the m ere
fa c t of the p re s e n c e of so m any c h ild re n to g e th e r, " M ann re m a rk s
puts the so c ia l and d is s o c ia l n a tu re of each into fe rv id action.
To be se n t to school, e sp e c ia lly in the co untry, is often a s g re a t
an event in a c h ild -life , as it is , in his f a th e r 's , to be se n t to th e
G en eral C ourt; and we a ll know w ith w hat unwonted fo rc e a ll
thin g s effect the m ind, in new p la c e s and u n der new c irc u m
s ta n c e s. E v ery child, too, when he f ir s t goes to school u n d e r
stan d s th a t he is put upon h is good b eh av io r; and, w ith m an or
child, it is a v e ry d e cisiv e thing, and re a c h e s deep into c h a ra c te r
and fa r into fu tu rity , when put upon his good b eh av io r, to prove
re c re a n t. Now, te a c h e rs tak e c h ild re n under th e ir c a re , as it
167
w e re , du rin g th e f i r s t w a rm day s of the sp rin g of life , when
m o re can be done to w a rd s d ire c tin g th e ir g ro w th and m odifying
th e ir d isp o sitio n s, th an can be done in y e a r s , a t a la te r se aso n
of th e ir e x iste n c e . " (45:11:119-120)
E v e ry te a c h e r should know how to handle the p ro b le m of re p e titio n
and p ra c tic e w ithout p e rm ittin g th e m to becom e so m onotonous th at
stu d en t in te r e s t is lo s t. T e a c h e rs m u st know how c h ild re n develop
in te lle c tu a l sk ills and m u st be able to p ro m o te th is d ev elo p m en t.
"E v e ry te a c h e r ought to know v a stly m o re th an he is re q u ire d to
te a c h , " M ann s ta te s
so th a t he m ay be fu rn ish e d , on e v e ry su b je c t, w ith copious illu s
tra tio n and in s tru c tiv e an ecd o te; and so th a t the pupils m ay be
d isa b u se d of the notion th ey a r e so ap t to a c q u ire , th a t th ey c a r r y
a ll know ledge in th e ir s a tc h e ls . E v ery te a c h e r should be p o s
s e s s e d of a fa c ility at ex p lan atio n , - -a ta c t in d isc e rn in g and
solving d iffic u ltie s, - -n o t to be u sed too often, fo r th en it would
su p e rc e d e th e e ffo rt it should en co u rag e , --b u t w hen it is used,
to be quick and s u re as a te le s c o p e , b rin g in g d ista n t o b je c ts n e a r,
and m aking o b sc u re ones d is tin c t. In the im p o rta n t, but g ro s s ly
n eg lected and abused e x e rc is e of rea d in g , fo r in sta n c e , e v ery
new fa c t, e v e ry new w ord, is new s to the child; and did he fully
u n d e rsta n d it, he would be a s e a g e r to le a rn it, a s we a r e to
le a rn w hat is new s to u s. (45:11:126-29)
A p tn ess to T each
Beyond knowing the su b je c ts he is re q u ire d to te a c h , e v e ry
te a c h e r m u st becom e a m a s te r of the a r t of te a ch in g . "T h is is h a p p i
ly e x p re s s e d , " M ann sa y s, "in th e com m on p h ra s e , a p tn e ss to te a c h "
(29:51).
M ann fe e ls th a t the a b ility to a c q u ire know ledge and the a b ility
to te a c h a r e two "w holly d iffe re n t ta le n ts . " A m an can have the f o r
m e r w ithout the la tte r and be a good sc h o la r but not a good te a c h e r.
"A p tn ess to te a c h , " M ann continues
involves the pow er of p e rc e iv in g how f a r a sc h o la r u n d e rsta n d s
168
the su b je c t-m a tte r to be le a rn e d , and w hat, in the n a tu ra l o rd e r,
is the next step he is to tak e. It involves the pow er of d is c o v e r
ing and of solving at the sam e tim e , the exact difficulty, by
w hich the le a r n e r is e m b a rra s s e d . The rem o v al of a slig h t im
pedim ent, the draw ing a sid e of the th in n est v eil, w hich happens
to d iv e rt h is ste p s, o r o b scu re h is vision, is w orth m o re to him
than volum es of lo re on c o lla te ra l su b je cts. . . the m ind of a
te a c h e r should m ig ra te , a s it w e re , into those of his pupils, to
d isc o v e r w hat they know and fee l and need; and then, supplying
fro m h is own sto ck s, w hat they re q u ire , he should red u ce it to
such a fo rm , and b rin g it w ithin such a d istan c e, th at they can
re a c h out and se iz e and a p p ro p ria te it. He should n e v er fo rg et
th a t in te lle c tu a l tru th s a re n a tu ra lly adapted to give in te lle ctu al
p le a su re ; and th at, by leading the m inds of h is pupils onw ard to
such a position in re la tio n to th e se tru th s , th at they th em se lv e s
can d isc o v e r them , he se c u re s to th em the n a tu ra l rew ard of a
new p le a su re w ith ev ery new d isc o v ery , w hich is one of the
stro n g e st, as w ell as m o st a p p ro p ria te in citem en ts to fu tu re e x
e rtio n . " (29:51-52)
A ptness to teach , Mann adds, includes a num ber of o th er a b il
itie s . It includes being able to p re s e n t the "d ifferen t p a rts of a su b
je c t, in a n a tu ra l o rd e r" (29:52). It involves being acquainted "not
only w ith com m on m ethods fo r com m on m inds, but w ith p e c u lia r
m ethods fo r pupils of p e c u lia r d isp o sitio n s and te m p e ra m e n ts" (29:
52).
It is the function of the n o rm al schools to aid the fu tu re te a c h
e r in developing his "ap tn ess to teach . " "The sta te m e n t has been
so m etim es m ade, " says Mann
th a t it is the object of N orm al Schools to subject a ll te a c h e rs to
one, inflexible, im m utable c o u rse of in stru c tio n . Nothing could
be m o re e rro n e o u s, fo r one of the g re a t objects is , to give them
a knowledge of m odes, as v ario u s as the d iv e rs ity of c a se s th at
m ay a ris e , - -th at like a skillful pilot, they m ay not only see the
haven fo r w hich they a re to s te e r, but know e v e ry bend in the
channel th at lead s to it. No one is so poor in re s o u rc e s fo r d if
fic u lt e m e rg en c ie s as they m ay a ris e , as he w hose know ledge of
m ethods is lim ited to the one in w hich he happened to be in
stru c te d . It is in th is way th at rude nations go on fo r indefinite
p e rio d s, im itatin g what they have seen, and teaching only as they
w ere taught. " (29:52-53)
A d m in is tra tiv e D uties
In M an n 's day the te a c h e r handled m an y d u tie s w hich a re now
c o n sid e re d a d m in is tra tiv e . In a d d itio n , th e a c t of te a ch in g , its e lf,
r e q u ir e s th a t th e te a c h e r p e rfo rm c e rta in a d m in is tra tiv e d u tie s.
T h ese a r e m an y and v a rie d depending upon th e s iz e of th e sch o o l, th e
n u m b er of stu d e n ts , the co m p lex ity and e x te n t of th e n o n -teach in g
ta s k s th e te a c h e r m u st p e rfo rm . It is im p o rta n t, M ann fe e ls , fo r the
te a c h e r to be tr a in e d in th e se a s p a rt of h is n o rm a l school tra in in g .
" E x p e rie n c e h a s a ls o p ro v ed , " M ann sa y s
th a t th e r e is no n e c e s s a r y co n n ectio n b etw een lit e r a r y c o m p e te n
cy, a p tn e ss to te a c h , and th e pow er to m an ag e and g o v ern a
school su c c e ss fu lly . T hey a re independent q u a lific a tio n s; y e t a
m a rk e d d e fic ie n c y in any one of the th re e , re n d e rs the o th e rs
n e a rly v a lu e le s s . " (29:53)
M ann e la b o ra te s on the a d m in is tra tiv e fu n ctio n s w hich the
te a c h e r p e rfo rm s w ithin th e c la s s ro o m as p a rt of h is job a s a te a c h e r.
"In re g a rd to th e o rd in a ry m an a g e m e n t o r a d m in is tra tio n of a sc h o o l,"
M ann co n tin u es
how m u ch ju d g m en t is d em an d ed in the o rg a n iz a tio n of c la s s e s ,
so th a t no s c h o la r sh a ll e ith e r be clogged and r e ta rd e d , o r h u r
rie d fo rw a rd w ith in ju d icio u s sp eed , by b eing m atch ed w ith an
unequal y o k e -fe llo w . G re a t d is c re tio n is n e c e s s a ry in the a s s ig n
m en t of le s s o n s , in o r d e r to avoid, on th e one hand, su ch s h o r t
n e ss in th e ta s k s , a s allo w s tim e to be id le ; and, on th e o th e r,
such o v e r-a s s ig n m e n ts , a s r e n d e r th o ro u g h n e ss and a c c u ra c y
im p ra c tic a b le , and th e re b y so h a b itu ate the pupil to m is ta k e s and
im p e rfe c tio n s , th a t he c a r e s little o r nothing about c o m m ittin g
th e m . L e s s o n s , as f a r a s it is p o ss ib le , should be so a d ju ste d
to the c a p a c ity of th e s c h o la r, th a t th e re should be no fa ilu re in
a re c ita tio n , not o c c a sio n e d by culp ab le n e g le c t. The se n se of
sh a m e, o r of r e g r e t fo r ig n o ra n c e , can n e v e r be m ad e e x q u isite ly
k een , if th e le s s o n s given a r e so long, o r so d iffic u lt, a s to m ak e
fa ilu re s fre q u e n t. W hen 'b ad m a r k s ', a s th e y a re c a lle d , a g a in st
a s c h o la r, beco m e com m on, th e y not only lo se th e ir s a lu to ry
fo rc e , but e v e ry ad d itio n to th em d e b a se s h is c h a ra c te r, and c a r
r ie s him th ro u g h a r e g u la r c o u rs e of tra in in g , w hich p r e p a re s
169
170
him to follow in the fo o tstep s of th o se co n v icts, who a re so often
condem ned, th at at length they c a re nothing fo r the ignom iny of
the sen ten ce. Yet a ll th is m ay be the leg itim ate consequence of
being unequally m ated, o r injudiciously ta sk e d . " (29:53-54)
T hese a d m in istra tiv e actions by the te a c h e r in the c la ss ro o m a re e x
tre m e ly im p o rtan t to the e n tire p ro c e ss of teaching and le a rn in g .
E v ery actio n of the te a c h e r in th is a re a has its effects upon the s tu
d en ts. Mann fee ls th at the b e st qualified people in the field of e d u ca
tion m u st help in planning th ese actio n s to the extent th at they can be
fo re s e e n . T hese a d m in istra tiv e actio n s m ust be studied in the n o r
m al sch o o ls. T e a c h e rs m u st u n d erstan d th at th e se a d m in istra tiv e
actio n s a re c au sa lly in te rre la te d , not only w ith the d isc ip lin e in the
school, but u ltim ately w ith the e n tire learn in g p ro c e s s .
D iscipline and P unishm ent
The re je c tio n of the C alv in ist th eo ry of m an k in d 's "to tal d e
p ra v ity " (45:1:10-16) and its rep la ce m e n t by the th e o ry of infinite u n
p ro v ab ility is H orace M ann's philosophical d istin ctio n , given the p e
rio d in w hich he developed his id eas.
The com m on opinion in the 1830's w as th a t c h a ra c te r w as in
b o rn . What we call "p e rso n a lity " today is probably c lo s e r to w hat
w as m eant by " c h a ra c te r" then. The v e ry w ord "p e rso n a lity " has a
le s s rea d y -m ad e connotation. "C h a ra c te r" today has com e to have a
fav o rab le connotation only. We say th at a p e rso n "has c h a ra c te r"
m eaning in g en eral, som ething p raisew o rth y , o r at le a s t p o sitiv e. In
the 1830's and fa r la te r than th at, c h a ra c te r w as thought to be in h e r
ited. "Bad blood" and poor in h eritan ce w ere thought re sp o n sib le fo r
poor p e rso n a lity developm ent m an ifested in la z in e ss , stupidity, ro w
171
d in ess, and o th er irrita tin g c h a ra c te ris tic s .
C alv in ism 's p e ssim ism led to a school philosophy of birching
the w ickedness out of the ch ildren. It assum ed that the evil w as born
in them .
Mann points out th at according to th e accepted law of the land,
the te a c h e r stands in loco p a re n tis . If th is is so, and Mann a g re es
w ith the p rin cip le, the te a c h e r stands in th e p a re n ts' place "fo r love
as w ell as pow er" (34:98). Mann doubts th e absolute rig h t of a p aren t
to punish a child irre sp e c tiv e of the situation involved. "If a fath e r
h as any right to punish a child, " Mann arg u es
whose re a so n he has never attem pted to enlighten, whose con
science he has never sought to develop, it is a right founded upon
the previous com m ission, on h is p a rt, of the highest w rong. If
the p reventives and m ild e r rem edies have not been used to a v e rt
the ultim ate n e c e ssity of violent applications, then the p aren t, in
re g a rd to e v e ry offence which dem ands the application of violence,
is an a c c e ss o ry b efore the fact, a su b o rn er to the c rim e , and
ju stly in cu rs the la rg e s t sh a re of its guilt. If the rig h ts of the
te a c h e r as to the e x e rc ise of pow er, a re com m ensurate w ith the
rig h ts of the p a re n t, so a re the te a c h e r's d u ties, also , in re g a rd
to the m otives fro m which he a c ts, co m m en su rate w ith p aren tal
d u tie s ." (34:99)
In his Seventh Annual R eport Mann speaks of the rela tio n sh ip s
e stab lish ed by the P ru s sia n sch o o lteach ers with th e ir students. He
points out that h e re it is b e tte r than that betw een p aren t and child.
It is b e tte r, because it is the kind of relatio n sh ip which can b e tte r
prom ote the developm ent of the child. He re m a rk s that th is re la tio n
ship has an objectivity which the p a re n t-ch ild relatio n sh ip usually is
lacking. "The te a c h e r's m anner w as b e tte r than p aren tal, " Mann
sa y s, "for it had the p a re n t's ten d ern ess and vigilence, w ithout the
foolish dotings o r indulgences to which p a re n tal affection is prone"
(32:137).
172
F o r Mann good d iscip lin e is m ainly se lf-d isc ip lin e . T his is
tru e of adults as w ell as ch ild ren . It is im p o rtan t fo r each student to
becom e a se lf-d isc ip lin e d p erso n . "S elf-g o v ern m en t, say s Mann
se lf-c o n tro l, a vo lu n tary com pliance w ith the law s of rea so n and
duty, have been ju stly co n sid ered as the h ig h est point of e x c e l
lence attain ab le by a hum an being. No one, how ever, can co n
sciously obey the law s of rea so n and duty, until he u n d erstan d s
them . Hence the p re lim in a ry n e c e ssity of th e ir being c le a rly e x
plained, of th e ir being m ade to stand out, broad, lofty, and as
conspicuous as a m ountain ag ain st a c le a r sky. (34:94)
Since se lf-d isc ip lin e involves an a w are n ess of the "law s of
re a so n and duty, " it is som ething w hich m u st be lea rn ed . A student
who is se lf-d isc ip lin e d w ill be in a m o re cooperative fram e of m ind.
A ll learning, in the final a n a ly sis, involves an activ e effo rt on the
p a rt of the le a rn e r. A stu d e n t's fram e of m ind is the key to the le a rn
ing situation. T h erefo re "the pupils th em se lv e s a re f ir s t to be p r e
p a re d ;--to be put in an apt condition fo r the w ork th at is to follow "
(34:85).
"T he te a c h e r should e n te r the c la ssro o m , " Mann arg u es
as the frien d and b en efacto r of his sc h o la rs. He is supposed to
p o ssess m o re knowledge than they, by the utm ost diligence and
s tre tc h of faculty, can receiv e fro m him ; but yet no fact is m o re
c ertain , o r law m o re u n iv ersal, than that they w ill m ake no v alu
able and abiding acq u isitio n w ithout th e ir own consent and coop
eratio n . The te a c h e r can n e ith er tra n sfu se knowledge by any
p ro c e ss of decanting, nor in ject it by any fo rc e , into the m ind of
a child; but the law of the rela tio n su b sistin g betw een them is,
- that he m ust have the c h ild 's conscious a sse n t and c o n cu rren ce
before he can im p a rt it. He cannot im p a rt u n less the child con
sents to re c e iv e . W hat then is the state of m ind m o st recep tiv e
of knowledge, and m o st cooperative in acq u irin g it? Surely, it is
a state of confidence, of tru stfu ln e ss, of re s p e c t, of affection.
Hence it follow s th at the f ir s t g re a t duty of a te a c h e r is to awaken
these sen tim en ts in the b re a s ts of h is pupils. F o r th is end, he
can do m o re , the f ir s t half day he e n te rs the schoolroom , than in
any w eek a fte rw a rd s. But if a te a c h e r p re se n ts h im self before
his pupils with a haughty o r a com tem ptuous a ir; if he introduces
h im self by beginning to speak of h is pow er and his au th o rity , he
173
w ill soon c re a te the occasion fo r using them . " (34:84-85)
If the student is antagonized by the te a c h e r, he w ill, because
of the asso c iatio n of id eas, also have a tendency to feel antagonistic
tow ard the ideas being p resen te d by the te a c h e r as p a rt of the m a te ri
al to be learn ed . Mann attack s the idea that the c la ssro o m situation
m u st develop into a struggle betw een te a c h e r and students. T h ere is
no doubt that an injudicious use of punishm ent can c re a te th is an tag o
n istic atm o sp h ere, but th is, in the end, would be fatal to the p ro s p e r
ity of a school, as is a civil w ar to the p ro sp e rity of a country" (34:
87).
The te a c h e r's function is to lead the students into a situation
w here they can le a rn the m o st, both in tellectu ally and m o rally , and
"we know that, w ith ch ild ren as w ith m en, the difference is un im ag
inably g re a t, betw een leading and d riv in g " (34:88)
In 1839, Mann d eliv ered his le c tu re entitled "On School P u n
ish m en ts" as p a rt of a co u rse of le c tu re s organized fo r the fem ale
te a c h e rs of B oston (45:11:333-68). It is p a rtic u la rly notew orthy th at
th is le c tu re was d eliv ered four y e a rs p rio r to M ann's trip to E urope
w hich re su lte d in his fam ous Seventh R ep o rt. T his R eport caused
m uch c o n tro v ersy betw een Mann and a group of B oston sc h o o lm a ste rs.
One of the questions around which the c o n tro v ersy raged w as the use
of c o rp o ra l punishm ent in the schools. It has been assum ed that
m o st of M ann's ideas on this question cam e fro m his e x p erien ces
during his E uropean trip . T hat this is not so, can be c le a rly seen by
an exam ination of th is le c tu re . Of co u rse, it can also be plainly
shown th at M ann's e n tire handling of the question of punishm ent is , as
174
is a ll h is ed ucational th eo ry , b ased on h is so c ial philosophy and his
id eas on the n a tu re of the w orld and m a n 's re la tio n sh ip to it. A ctu al
ly, as has been pointed out p re v io u sly in th is p ap er, M ann's E u ro p e a n
tr ip m e re ly co n firm ed m any of the educational id eas w hich he had
p re v io u sly held. The tr ip w as a g re a t le a rn in g ex p erien ce fo r Mann,
how ever, b ecau se in E urope he cam e a c ro s s m any situ atio n s w here
schools w ere su c c e ssfu lly p ra c tic in g m any of the id eas w hich he had
been suggesting and in itiatin g into p ra c tic e in M a ssa c h u se tts.
"All punishm ent, c o n sid ere d by its e lf, " notes Mann in h is l e c
tu re
is an ev il. In o th er w o rd s, a ll pain, c o n sid ered by its e lf, is an
evil; and the im m ed iate object of punishm ent is the in flictio n of
pain. . . . The u ltim ate object of punishm ent is to a v e rt an evil
g re a te r than its e lf. (45:11:333)
If punishm ent can be ju stifie d at a ll, acco rd in g to M ann, it can
only be w here it is c o n sid ered b e tte r to in flict a te m p o ra ry pain than
to r is k a fu tu re ev il. T his alw ays r a is e s the q u estio n of w h eth er the
fu tu re evil can be p rev en ted , and p e rh a p s m o re c e rta in ly p rev e n ted ,
by o th e r m ean s than punishm ent. F ro m M ann's point of view , c o r
p o ra l punishm ent m ay be n e c e s s a ry in e m e rg en c y situ a tio n s. It m u st
be used sp arin g ly , if used at a ll. A conclusion th at it can be used in
a p a rtic u la r situ atio n "does nothing tow ard sanctioning an indefinite
am ount of it" (45:11:341), "Its rig h tfu ln e s s ," Mann continues
is lim ite d by its object; and its only ju stifia b le object is to r e
s tra in fro m the co m m issio n of offences, until re m e d ia l m ean s
can be brought to b e a r upon the offender. Beyond th is lim it, p u n
ish m en t b eco m es punishable its e lf. The object of punishm ent is ,
p rev en tio n fro m evil; it can n e v er be m ade im pulsive to good!'
(45:11:341)
The goal of the te a c h e r should be, Mann a rg u e s, to cut down, and
175
eventually to cut out, a ll punishm ent and to striv e to develop the p o s i
tive situation in the c la ssro o m w hich is conducive to lea rn in g . The
b e tte r tra in e d the te a c h e r, the le s s he needs to r e s o r t to punishm ent.
One can judge the adequacy of the te a c h e r by his attitude tow ards it.
"A te a c h e r who cannot ru le by love, " Mann says
m u st do so by fe a r. A te a c h e r who cannot supply m a te ria l fo r
the a ctiv ity of his p u p ils' m inds by talen t, m ust put down th at a c
tiv ity by fo rc e . A te a c h e r who cannot answ er a ll the questions
and solve a ll the doubts of a sc h o lar as they a ris e , m u st assu m e
an awful and m y sterio u s a ir, and m ust expound in o ra c le s , w hich
th em selv es need m o re explanation than the o rig in al difficulty.
When a te a c h e r knows m uch and is m a s te r of his whole subject,
he can afford to be m odest and unpretending. " (32:128)
The style of H orace M ann's philosophy of education is rev ealed
in his w riting on the subject of punishm ent. He re je c ts f ir s t the p h i
losophy which ju stifie s c o rp o ra l punishm ent. He a sk s questions:
Why is punishm ent u sed ? What is expected as a re s u lt of punishm ent?
W hat is re a lly the effect of c o rp o ra l punishm ent on the child? In what
context do we find punishm ent given by te a c h e rs o r receiv ed by c h il
d ren ?
The questions asked by Mann a re co n sisten t w ith his philosoph
ical approach. They a re , f ir s t of a ll, p rag m atic: A re the p ro p er
goals achieved by this actio n ? Second, hum ane and psychological: In
a sta te of fe a r can ch ild ren le a rn ? F inally, pedagogical: W hat kind of
te a c h e r needs to r e s o r t to c o rp o ra l punishm ent? Mann a n sw ers p o lite
ly but firm ly : Only the incom petent.
W omen T each ers
H orace Mann w as involved in the m ovem ent fo r w om en's
rig h ts. He thought of wom en as hum an beings w ith the sam e potential
176
of developm ent as m en. T his w as an im p o rtan t p a rt of h is g en eral
philosophy. He em p h asized , a lso , the d ifferen c e s betw een m en and
w om en. B ecau se of th e se d iffe re n c e s, Mann thought w om en would be
b e tte r te a c h e rs of the young than m en. "T hat fem a le s a re in co m p ara
bly b e tte r te a c h e rs fo r young c h ild re n than m a le s, " M ann re m a rk s
cannot adm it a doubt. T h e ir m an n e rs a re m o re m ild and gentle,
and hence m o re in consonance w ith the te n d e rn e ss of childhood.
They a r e endowed by n a tu re w ith stro n g e r p a re n ta l im p u lse s, and
th is m ak es the so ciety of c h ild re n delightful, and tu rn s duty into
p le a su re . T h e ir m inds a re le s s w ithdraw n fro m th e ir em ploy
m ent, by the activ e scen es of life; and th ey a re le s s intent and
schem ing fo r fu tu re honors o r em o lu m en ts. As a c la s s , they
n ever look fo rw a rd , as young m en a lm o st in v ariab ly do, to a
p eriod of leg al em ancipation fro m p a re n ta l co n tro l, when they a re
to b re a k away fro m the d o m estic c irc le and go ab ro ad into the
w orld, to build up a fortune fo r th e m se lv e s; and hence, the sp h ere
of hope and of e ffo rt is n a rro w e r, and the whole fo rc e s of the
m ind a re m o re re a d ily c o n ce n tra te d upon p re s e n t d u tie s. They
a re a lso of p u re r m o ra ls . . . . on th is account, th e re fo re , f e
m ales a re in fin itely m o re fit than m a le s to be the guides and e x
e m p la rs of young c h ild re n ." (29:45-46)
T his is a ra th e r quaint way of putting the a ttitu d e tow ard w om
en w hich w as p rev a len t am ong the leading in te lle c tu a ls of M ann's day.
B ecause w om en a s a c la s s a re of " p u re r m o ra ls, " have stro n g e r
"p a re n ta l im p u lse s, " they a re able to enjoy the com pany of ch ild ren
and th ere b y tu rn "duty into p le a su re . " W hether th is d e sc rip tio n of
w om en is m eaningful in to d a y 's w orld o r not, it a p p aren tly w as m e a n
ingful in M ann's day. It is p o ssib le th a t the in c re a s e in the num ber of
w om en te a c h e rs was p a rtly due to the fac t th at, at the tim e , women
w e re paid little m o re than half as m uch as m en. Be that as it m ay,
th e re can be no doubt that Mann not only thought they would m ake good
te a c h e rs , but pushed a cam paign to tra in them in the n o rm al schools
so th a t they could becom e good te a c h e rs . T his was one of the e a rlie s t
177
fo rm s of h ig h e r ed u catio n open to w om en.
The sch o o l sy ste m in the S tate expanded ra p id ly a fte r M ann b e
cam e s e c r e ta r y of th e B o ard . M ann kept a s ta tis tic a l check on th e
n u m b ers of m en and w om en te a c h e rs in the sc h o o ls. The n u m b er of
w om en te a c h e rs in c re a s e d in the p e rio d fro m 1837 to 1843-4 by 990
co m p ared to an in c re a s e in m ale te a c h e rs of 159. D uring th e sam e
p e rio d , th e re w as an in c re a s e of 418 in the n u m b er of sc h o o ls, show
ing th a t w om en had re p la c e d m en in a c o n sid e ra b le n u m b er of sc h o o ls.
M ann c ite s th e s e fig u re s in h is E ighth A nnual R e p o rt. He a p p ro v e s of
the tre n d w hich, he fe e ls , in d ic a te s a "change in public se n tim e n t
. . . in a c c o rd a n c e w ith the d ic ta te s of th e so u n d est philosoph y" (33:
60). Mann fe e ls th a t w om en can play a g re a t ro le in in te lle c tu a l and
m o ra l developm ent. He thinks th ey can handle the d isc ip lin e p ro b le m
in the sch o o ls m uch b e tte r than m en can. "W hat sta tio n of b en eficen t
la b o r can she a s p ire to , " M ann in q u ire s
m o re h o n o ra b le , o r m o re congenial to e v e ry p u re and g en ero u s
im p u lse ? In the g re a t sy ste m of so c iety , w hat o th e r p a rt can she
a c t, so in tim a te ly connected w ith the re fin e m e n t and p u rific a tio n
of the r a c e ? How o th erw ise can she so w ell v in d icate h e r rig h t to
an ex alted sta tio n in the s c a le of being; and cau se th a t sh am efu l
sen ten ce of d e g ra d a tio n by w hich she has so long been d ish o n o re d ,
to be re p e a le d ? F o u r fifth s of a ll w om en who have e v e r lived,
have b een the sla v e s of m an, - -th e m e n ia ls in h is h o usehold, the
d ru d g es in h is fie ld , the in stru m e n ts of h is p le a s u re ; o r a t b e st,
the gilded toys of h is le is u re days in c o u rt o r p a la c e . She h as
been outlaw ed fro m h o n o rab le s e rv ic e , and a lm o st in c a p a c ita te d ,
by h e r s e rv ile condition, fo r the h ig h est a s p ira tio n s a fte r u s e fu l
n e ss and renow n. But a noble rev en g e aw aits h e r. By a m a n ife s
tatio n of the s u p e rio rity of m o ra l pow er, she can triu m p h o v e r
th at p h y sic a l p o w er w hich h a s h ith e rto su b jected h e r to bondage.
She can b le s s th o se by whom she h as been w ronged. By refin in g
the ta s te s and se n tim e n ts of m an, she can change the o b jec ts of
his am b itio n ; and w ith changed o b jects of am b itio n , th e fie ld s of
h o n o rab le e x e rtio n can be divided betw een the s e x e s . By in
sp irin g n o b le r d e s ir e s fo r n o b le r o b je c ts, she can b re a k down th e
a sce n d en c y of th o se se lfis h m o tiv e s th a t have sought th e ir g r a tif i
178
cation in h e r su b m issio n and in fe rio rity . All th is she can do,
m o re rap id ly and m o re effectu ally th an it can e v e r be done in any
o th er w ay, u n le ss th rough m ira c le s , by tra in in g the young to
ju s te r notions of honor and duty, and to a h ig h er a p p re c ia tio n of
the tru e dignity and d estin y of th e ra c e . " (33:60-61)
M ann is hoping th a t w om en can tak e th e ir "rev e n g e" fo r the thousands
of y e a rs of m is tre a tm e n t by "refin in g the ta s te s and se n tim en ts of
m an. "
O rg an izatio n and A d m in istratio n
of P ublic E ducation
Ideas and p ro p o sa ls m ade by H orace Mann had a profound e f
fec t not only on public education in M a ssac h u se tts but throughout the
U nited S tates and in m any o th er c o u n trie s. S tate-w ide sta n d a rd s in
the se le c tio n of textbooks, e sta b lish m e n t of c u rric u lu m , o rg an izatio n
of school lib r a r ie s , q u alificatio n of te a c h e rs , design of school b u ild
ings and the grad ed school, in itia te d by M ann, w ere e ith e r w holly o r
p a rtia lly h is own id e a s.
The developm ent of school financing and the law s re la tin g to
th is financing w ere his w ork. He opened the f ir s t n o rm al school fo r
the tra in in g of te a c h e rs and in itiated its financing by the sta te . He
p ro p o sed , planned and conducted te a c h e r s ' in stitu te s ; he pro p o sed
u niform sta n d a rd s of te a c h e r pay s c a le s . He advocated sta te -w id e
u n ifo rm ity fo r the length of the school y e a r, the school day, and the
v a rio u s h o lid ay s. He fought fo r and achieved sta te law s w hich m ade
a ll public schools fr e e . He p ro p o sed to m ake th ese schools so good
th at th o se p a re n ts who w e re sending th e ir ch ild ren to p riv a te schools
would change th is and send th em to the public sch o o ls.
M any p ro p o sa ls fo r lea rn in g aids and equipm ent w e re m ade by
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M ann. Am ong th e s e w e re b la c k b o a rd s, m ap s, and g lo b es. He w as
th e in te lle c tu a l m e n to r and s p ir it behind the e m b ry o p a re n t-te a c h e r
o rg a n iz a tio n as w ell as the d ev elopm ent of the p ro fe s s io n a l te a c h e r
o rg a n iz a tio n . W om en w e re b ro u g h t into the tea ch in g p ro fe s sio n in
la rg e n u m b ers th ro u g h h is in itia tiv e .
M ann developed the f i r s t m eth o d s of g a th e rin g s ta tis tic s about
w hat w as going on in th e schools in the v a rio u s lo c a litie s . He m ade it
the re s p o n sib ility of the lo cal school b o a rd s to r e p o r t on a ll th e school
a c tiv itie s . M ann s tr e s s e d the im p o rta n c e of th e se r e p o r ts in the d e
velopm ent of sta te -w id e ed u catio n al p ro g ra m s . He w o rk ed out the
d e ta ils of sta te aid to lo c a l d is tr ic ts on the b a s is of th e ir r e p o r ts of
a v e ra g e d a ily a tten d a n ce . M ann w as co n tin u ally involved inthe p ro b
le m of m aking c e rta in th a t th e sch o o ls w e re n o n -s e c ta ria n , in the
se n se th a t they n e v er b e ca m e the in stru m e n t of any re lig io u s se c t,
and n o n -p o litic a l, in th e se n se th a t th ey n e v er b ecam e th e in stru m e n t
of a p a rtic u la r p o litic a l p a rty .
It is beyond the scope of th is d is s e rta tio n to c o n sid e r th e se a s
w ell as o th e r w ays in w hich Mann w as involved in th e a d m in istra tio n
and c o n tro l of M a ssa c h u se tts sc h o o ls. It is p e rh a p s su fficie n t to c ite
th re e ex am p les w hich ex em plify th e m ethod by w hich M ann a ttack ed
v irtu a lly a ll sp ecific p ro b le m s. T h ese ex am p les re la te d ire c tly to
the m ain th e s is of th is study, th a t M ann w as fu n d am en tally a so c ia l
p h ilo so p h er who fe lt th a t education w as s o c ie ty 's m ain in stru m e n t fo r
achieving its g o als.
The p ro b lem of fre e sch o o ls, th e developm ent of school l i
b r a r ie s , and the building of ad eq u ate sch o o lh o u ses a ll d e m o n stra te
180
M ann's ty p ic a l p ro c e d u re . H is sta te m e n ts on th e se th re e su b je c ts
in d icate the in tim ate connection betw een th e o ry and p ra c tic e w hich
m a rk h is a p p ro a c h in v irtu a lly e v e ry a re a .
M ann se e m s to have developed h is sty le of a c tiv ity as a r e s u lt
of h is philosophy. T he fa c t th a t the S tate B o a rd of E ducation had no
en fo rcin g p o w ers m ay p e rh a p s have e n co u rag e d h is m eth o d s of a p
p ro a c h . B ecau se of h is a ttitu d e s to w a rd s ed u catio n , he alw ays tr ie d
to educate as m any people a s p o ssib le on a ll th e fa c e ts of the p ro b le m
and involve th em in the a c tiv itie s n e c e s s a ry to solve th e se p ro b le m s.
B elieving th a t people w e re m oved by id e a s, M ann felt he had
to a p p ris e the people of the p ro b le m s a s w ell as of th e so lu tio n s he
thought n e c e s s a ry . M ann tr ie d to c re a te a b ro ad u n d e rstan d in g of the
p ro b le m s he w as facin g both th e o re tic a lly and p ra c tic a lly .
M ann's m ethod involved both an a n a ly s is of the p ro b le m and a
sub seq u en t ex p o sitio n of a th e o re tic a l ex p lan atio n fo r th e c a u se s of
the p ro b le m as w ell as a p ro p o sa l of so lu tio n s.
School A rc h ite c tu re
In h is d isc u ssio n of sch o o lh o u ses M ann beg in s w ith c e rta in
b a sic c o n sid e ra tio n s.
The f i r s t p ra c tic a l a p p lica tio n of th e se tr u th s , in re la tio n to
o u r C om m on S chools, is to S ch o o l-h o u se A rc h ite c tu re , - - a su b je ct
so little re g a rd e d , y e t so v ita lly im p o rta n t. The c o n stru c tio n of
sc h o o l-h o u se s in v o lv es, not the love of study and p ro fic ie n c y ,
only, but h e a lth and length of life . I have the te stim o n y of m any
em in en t p h y sic ia n s of th is fa c t. T hey a s s u r e m e th a t it is w ithin
th e ir own p e rs o n a l know ledge, th a t th e re is , an n u ally , lo s s of
life , d e s tru c tio n of h e alth , and such a n a to m ic a l d is to rtio n as r e n
d e rs life h a rd ly w o rth p o s s e s s in g , grow ing out of th e bad co n
stru c tio n of o u r sc h o o l-h o u se s. N or is th is e v il confined to a few
of th em , only. It is a v e ry g e n e ra l c a la m ity . I have se e n m any
sc h o o l-h o u se s, in c e n tra l d is tr ic ts of ric h and populous tow ns,
181
w h e re each se a t connected w ith a d e sk , c o n siste d only of an u p
rig h t post o r p e d e sta l, ju ttin g up out of the flo o r, th e u p p er end
of w hich w as only about eight o r ten inches sq u a re , w ithout sid e -
a rm s o r b ack b o a rd ; and som e of th em so high th at th e fee t of the
c h ild re n in vain sought a fte r th e flo o r. T hey w ere beyond sound
in g s. Yet, on the h a rd top of th e se stu m p s, the m a s te rs and
m is s e s of th e school m u st b alan ce th e m s e lv e s , as w ell as they
can, fo r six h o u rs in a day. A ll a tte m p ts to p re s e rv e silen c e in
su ch a house a r e not only vain, but c ru e l. Nothing but ab so lu te
im p a lem en t could keep a live child s till, on such a se a t; and you
w ould h a rd ly th in k him w o rth living, if it could. The pupils w ill
r e s o r t to e v e ry p o ssib le bodily evolution fo r re lie f; and, a fte r a ll,
though th ey m ay change th e p la c e , th ey keep the p a in . I have good
re a s o n s fo r re m e m b e rin g one of a n o th e r c la s s of sc h o o l-h o u se s,
w hich the sc ie n tific would p ro b ab ly c a ll the six th o rd e r of a r c h i
te c tu re , --th e w ic k e r-w o rk o rd e r, su m m e r-h o u s e s fo r w in te r
re s id e n c e , --w h e re th e re n e v e r w as a se v e re ly cold day w ithout
th e in k 's fre e z in g in the pens of the s c h o la rs w hile th ey w ere
w ritin g ; and the te a c h e r w as lite ra lly obliged to c o m p ro m ise b e
tw een the su ffe rin g s of th o se who w e re exposed to th e cold of the
w indow s and th o se exposed to the h e a t of the fir e , by not ra is in g
the th e rm o m e te r of the la tte r above ninety d e g re e s , until th e f o r
m e r fe ll below th irty . A p a rt of the c h ild re n su ffe red the a rc tic
cold of C aptains R oss and P a r r y , and a p a rt, the to r r id h e at of
th e L ianders, w ithout, in e ith e r c a s e , w inning the honors of a d is
c o v e re r. It w as an ex ce llen t place fo r the te a c h e r to illu s tra te
one of the fa c ts of geography; fo r five ste p s would have c a r r ie d
him th rough the five zo n es. J u s t b e fo re m y p re s e n t c irc u it, I
p a sse d a sc h o o l-h o u se, th e ro o f of w hich, on one sid e , w as
tro u g h -lik e ; and down to w a rd s the eav e s th e re w as a la rg e hole;
so th a t the w hole o p e ra te d like a tu n n el to c a tc h a ll the ra in and
p o u r it into the sc h o o l-ro o m . At f ir s t, I did not know but it
m ig h t be som e a p p a ra tu s d esig n ed to explain the D eluge. I called
and in q u ired of the m is tr e s s , if she and h e r little ones w e re not
so m e tim e s drow ned out. She sa id she should be, only that the
flo o r leaked as badly as the ro o f, and d ra in e d off the w a te r. And
y et a h ealth fu l, c o m fo rtab le sc h o o l-h o u se can be e re c te d a s c h ea p
ly a s one w hich, judging fro m its c o n stru c tio n , you would say,
had been d ed ic ated to the evil genius of d e fo rm ity and su fferin g .
(45:11:51-52)
M ann h e re r e ite r a te s one of h is m a jo r p h ilo so p h ical p rin c ip le s.
He a tta c k s the C a lv in ist p o sitio n th a t a ll m en a r e bo rn bad. He e x
pounds h is b a sic p o sitio n th a t a ll c h ild re n a re in te re s te d in le a rn in g .
He s ta te s , how ever, th a t th is in te re s t cannot be p u rsu e d and cannot
flo w er if in te rfe re d w ith by e v e ry s o rt of m a jo r u n p le a sa n tn e ss --b e it
182
the pain of the rod o r pain due to sittin g too long on a school c h a ir not
m eant to be sat upon. This sta te m e n t by Mann on the sta te of the
schoolhouses in M a ssach u setts is in te re stin g fro m an o th er point of
view. Mann is saying th at the schoolhouses a re bad. In his day, th is
is quite a strong statem en t. Few , if any, o th ers w ere m aking the
sam e statem en t. M ost people had not noticed th at the schoolhouses
w ere bad. Mann saw it, because he was looking at the field of ed u ca
tion fro m a ll sid e s, fro m a ll an g les, to see if he could sug g est ways
to im prove the education of the c h ild ren of the sta te . He was looking
at education as a philosopher, as P lato would, exam ining ev ery a sp e c t
of the e n tire question, exam ining even the in te rre la tio n sh ip betw een
school buildings and the learn in g p ro c e s s . And a fte r exam ining hun
d red s of schoolhouses throughout the sta te , Mann decided that the
g en eral run of schoolhouses' w ere bad, because they did not aid the
children in lea rn in g . In fact, m o st of the schoolhouses had v ario u s
fe a tu re s w hich h in d ered learn in g . "The voice of n a tu r e ,1 1 Mann con
tinues
. . . fo rb id s the in fliction of annoyance, d isco m fo rt, pain, upon
a child, w hile engaged in study. If he actu ally su ffe rs fro m p o s i
tion, o r heat, o r cold, o r fe a r, not only is a portion of the e n e r
gy of h is m ind w ithdraw n fro m his lesio n , - -a ll of w hich should be
concentrated upon it, - -but, a t that d isc rim in atin g age, the pain
blends its e lf w ith the study, m akes p a rt of the rem e m b ra n ce of
it, and thus c u rio sity and the love of learn in g a re deadened, o r
tu rn ed away tow ard vicious o b jects. T his is the philosophy of
c h ild ren b h atin g study. We in su late them by fe a r; we touch them
w ith non-conductors; and then, because they em it no sp ark , we
g rav ely av er th at they a re n o n -e le c tric bodies. If p o ssib le, p le a
su re should be m ade to flow like a sw eet atm o sp h ere around the
e a rly le a rn e r, and pain be kept beyond the a sso c iatio n of id ea s.
You cannot open b lo sso m s w ith a n o rth -e a st sto rm . The buds of
the h a rd ie st plants w ill w ait fo r the genial influences of the sun,
though they p e ris h while they w ait. (45:11:50-51)
183
M ann h e re m ak es th e sam e p o in ts about sc h o o lro o m s th a t he
m a k e s about p u n ish m en t. In effect, ju s t to fo rc e stu d en ts to spend
long days in som e of th e se ro o m s, c h a ra c te riz e d by th e conditions
M ann d e s c rib e s , is a fo rm of p u n ish m en t. It h a s the sam e bad e ffe cts
on the stu d e n ts' in te re s t in le a rn in g .
M ann issu e d a sp e c ia l re p o rt to the S tate B o ard on sc h o o l
h o u se s a s a su p p lem en t to h is F i r s t A nnual R e p o rt. As he notes in
th is sp e c ia l re p o rt:
In m y la te to u r of e x p lo ra tio n , m ade into e v e ry county in the
S tate, I p e rs o n a lly ex am in ed o r obtained e x a c t and sp e cific in fo r
m atio n , re g a rd in g the re la tiv e s iz e , c o n stru c tio n , and condition
of about eig h t hundred sch o o lh o u ses; and, in v a rio u s w ays, - -
p rin c ip a lly by c o rre s p o n d e n c e --! have obtained g e n e ra l in fo rm a
tio n re sp e c tin g , at le a s t, a thousand m o re . (45:11:433)
In h is tr a v e ls M ann found g re a t d iv e rs ity and little planning in
th e c o n stru c tio n of the sch o o lh o u ses. H is so lu tio n s to the p ro b le m in
volve su g g estio n s and a c tu a l p lan s fo r sch o o lh o u ses, but th ey w ere not
m ea n t to be follow ed by ro te . The b u ild in g s a re fo r a c e rta in p u rp o se ,
and he re la te s ,
I do not p ro p o se to d e s c rib e a p e rfe c t m o d el, and to u rg e a u n i
v e rs a l c o n fo rm ity . It is obvious th at som e d iffe re n c e in c o n s tru c
tio n is n e c e s s a ry , a c c o rd in g to the d iffe re n t kind of school to be
k ep t. In each c a se , it m u st be c o n sid e re d , w h eth er th e sc h o o l
ro o m be th a t of an acad em y o r of an infant school; w h eth er it be
in the city o r in the co u n try ; fo r m a le s o r fo r fe m a le s, o r both;
w h eth er d esig n ed to acco m m o d ate m any s c h o la rs , o r only a few ;
o r w h eth er th e ran g e of stu d ie s to be p u rsu e d is e x te n siv e, o r
e le m e n ta ry only. The e s s e n tia ls being u n d e rsto o d , th e plan can
be m odified to each p a rtic u la r c a s e . (45:11:434)
Schoolhouses and sc h o o lro o m s, M ann n o tes, have few com m on
c h a r a c te r is tic s . " . . . th ey a r e , a lm o st u n iv e rsa lly , c o n tra c te d in
siz e : th ey a re situ a te d im m e d ia te ly on the ro a d sid e , and a re w ithout
any p ro p e r m ean s of v en tilatio n " (45:11:439). F u r th e r, he co m m en ts
184
" it se e m s c le a r th at som e p lan s m ay be d ev ised , com bining th e su b
sta n tia l advantages and avoiding the p rin c ip le d e fe cts of a ll" (45:11:
435).
Mann goes into a long and d etailed d isc u ssio n of the m a jo r
fa c to rs w hich m u st be taken into account in building any sch o o lh o u ses.
He a lso develops d e ta ile d p ro p o sa ls fo r solving th e p ro b lem s th a t a re
ra is e d . T hese m a jo r fa c to rs a re seven in n u m b er: (1) v en tilatio n
and w arm in g ; (2) siz e ; (3) d e sk s, s e a ts , and fu rn ish in g s; (4) lo c a
tio n of sch o o lh o u ses; (5) light-w indow s; (6) y a rd s and play g ro u n d s;
(7) the duty of in s tru c to rs in re la tio n to sch oolhouses (45:11:436-76).
In a ll c a s e s , sch o o lh o u ses a re to be c o n sid ere d fro m the
point of view of w h eth er th e ir v a rio u s c h a r a c te r is tic s aid o r h in d er
the c h ild re n in gaining an ed u catio n . Involved in th is is w h eth er they
a re an aid o r a re h a rm fu l to the h e alth of th e c h ild ren . Mann an aly zes
each of th ese seven fa c to rs and m akes sp ecific reco m m en d atio n s in
each c a se b ased upon h is g e n e ra l ap p ro ach .
In re g a rd to th e duty of in s tru c to rs in re la tio n to sc h o o l
h o u se s, it is in te re s tin g to note th at Mann fe e ls th a t "though th ey have
no d ire c t agency in e re c tin g and re p a irin g the b u ild in g s, " (45:11:476)
they can feel som e p rid e in m aintaining th em in a clean and o rd e rly
condition. The stu d en ts can le a rn o rd e rlin e s s and c le a n lin e ss if the
te a c h e r se ts a good ex am p le.
At the end of h is re p o rt on sch o o lh o u ses, Mann adds a few
p oints w hich do not fit into the topics c o n sid ere d above. He th in k s,
fo r in sta n c e , th a t e v e ry schoolhouse should have a b e ll, w here the e x
p en se can be affo rd ed . F u rth e r, he fe e ls th a t e v e ry ro o m should have
185
a clock. T his should be
placed in som e p a rt of the schoolroom , w here it can be seen by-
a ll the s c h o la rs . It is both an en co u rag em en t and re lie f to th em .
It has an effect upon p u p ils, ju st like a m ilestone upon tr a v e lle rs .
Men and c h ild re n have a w onderful pow er of adapting th em se lv e s
to c irc u m s ta n c e s; but, w ith a ll th e ir flex ib ility , n e ith e r child n o r
m an can e v e r adapt h im self to a sta te of suspense o r u n c ertain ty .
(45:11:487)
M ann fe e ls, fu rth e r, th at e v ery schoolhouse should be situ a te d n e a r
enough to a fa rm house so th at it can use the f a r m e r's w ell. O th e r
w ise it should have a "pum p o r w ell w here w a ter fo r d rin k and so
fo rth can be obtained" (45:11:487).
Mann includes in th is su p p lem en tary re p o rt the plans fo r
schoolhouses draw n up fo r the A m erican In stitu te of In stru ctio n . T his
is not put in as a m odel to be copied but fo r the inform ation of the
lo ca l b o a rd s. Mann hopes not th at exactly the sam e type of buildings
should be b u ilt throughout the sta te , but th at a un ifo rm ity of p u rp o se
and goal should be the guide in any building th at tak es p la c e .
F re e Schools
As w as pointed out in the d isc u ssio n of h is so cial philosophy,
H orace Mann fe e ls th at e v ery p e rso n has a n a tu ra l rig h t to an e d u ca
tion. T his ste m s fro m M ann's th eo ry of the custodial rig h ts of p ro p
e rty and fro m the fact th a t each g en eratio n m u st be tra in e d so th at it
can adequately assu m e its ro le of handling the w ealth of its c iv iliz a
tion. T his tra in in g can only be se c u re d through an adequate ed u ca
tion. It m u st be fre e to the new g en eratio n and it m ust be m ade
available to a ll. It is to be paid fo r by the w ealth accum ulated by p a st
g en eratio n s and now in the custody of the o ld er g en eratio n .
186
Mann fe e ls th a t th is p o sitio n is in h a rm o n y w ith h is feelin g th a t
d e m o c rac y w ith a ll its d efects is the b e s t p o litic a l sy s te m y et invented
by m en . T he d e fe c ts, he fe e ls , can be o v e rc o m e o v er a long p e rio d
of tim e m ain ly th ro u g h the e ffe c ts on fu tu re g e n e ra tio n s of c itiz e n s by
the c o r r e c t kind of education. F re e sc h o o ls, M ann fe e ls , should be a
p a rt of d e m o c rac y . He points up the fa c t th a t they w ere an innovation
by the P ilg rim F a th e rs . M ann fe e ls th a t th e re s u lts of se ttin g up
i
th e se fre e sch o o ls ha\{e been v e ry good but th a t M a ssa c h u se tts h as
p e rm itte d its school sy stem to d e te rio ra te and th is m u st be re m e d ie d .
" T h e re is not at the p re s e n t tim e , " M ann sa y s
w ith the exception of New E ngland and a few sm a ll lo c a litie s e ls e
w h e re, a S tate o r a com m unity in C h risten d o m , w hich m ain ta in s
a sy ste m of F re e Schools fo r th e ed u catio n of its c h ild re n . E ven
in the S tate of New Y ork, w ith a ll its noble endow m ents, the
Schools a re not F re e . (35:110-11)
The m a tte r of fre e p u b lic sch o o ls a ls o involves th e p ro b le m of
p riv a te and p a ro c h ia l schools a s w ell as the p ro b le m of who should a t
tend the public sch o o ls. M ann's a p p ro a ch to th e p ro b lem of fre e
schools as re la te d to th ese la t t e r p ro b le m s m e r its sp e c ia l c o n s id e ra
tio n . B ack of h is id ea s on who should atten d the com m on sch o o ls is
M ann's p rin c ip le th a t ev ery child h as the n a tu ra l rig h t to an e d u c a
tio n . He s ta te s th is in an o th e r m a n n e r w hen he says th a t "p o v erty
ought n e v e r to be a b a r a g a in st the a tta in m e n t of th at d e g re e of k n o w l
edge, w hich is n e c e s s a ry fo r th e in te llig e n t p e rfo rm a n c e of e v e ry
duty in life" (28:99).
In h is Seventh Annual R e p o rt, w here he d is c u s s e s the P ru s s ia n
and Saxon sch o o ls, Mann p o in ts out one r e s p e c t in w hich he fe e ls the
M a ssa c h u se tts schools a re unquestioningly s u p e rio r. "In r e g a rd to
187
the gran d p rin c ip le s on w hich our own school sy ste m is org an ized , "
he com m ents
we look fo r no su b sta n tia l im p ro v em en t. O ur schools a re p e r
fe c tly fre e . A child would be as m uch asto n ish ed at being asked
to pay any sum , how ever sm a ll, fo r attending o u r Com m on
Schools, as he would be if paym ent w ere dem anded of him fo r
w alking in the public s tr e e ts , fo r b reath in g the com m on a ir , o r
enjoying the w arm th of the u n ap p ro p riab le Sun. M assach u setts
has the honor of estab lish in g the f i r s t sy ste m of F re e Schools in
the w orld; and she p ro jec te d a plan so e la stic and expansive, in
re g a rd to the c o u rse of stu d ies and the thoroughness of in s tru c
tion, th at it m ay be en larg ed and p e rfe cte d to m ee t any new w ants
of h e r c itiz e n s, to the end of tim e . O ur sy ste m , too, is one and
the sam e fo r both ric h and poor; fo r, as a ll hum an beings, in r e
g ard to th e ir n a tu ra l rig h ts, stand upon a footing of equality b e
fo re God, so, in th is re s p e c t, the hum an h as been copied fro m
the divine plan of governm ent, by placing a ll c itize n s on the sam e
footing of equality b efo re the law of the land. F o r th ese p u rp o se s,
th e re fo re , we do not d e s ire to copy o r to study the sy ste m s of
fo reig n nations, u su ally so d ifferen t fro m our ow n;--w e hope,
ra th e r, th a t they w ill study and copy o u rs. " (32:68*69)
Mann understood, how ever, th at the concept of fre e com m on schools
w as being underm ined in M a ssa c h u se tts. In the State Senate, he was
one of the m ain le g is la to rs who pushed the law c re a tin g the State
B oard of E ducation through the le g is la tu re . Mann, as its f ir s t S e c re
ta ry , recognized th at the State B o ard had a g re a t num ber of p ro b lem s
on its hands. None w as m o re im p o rtan t than to analyze the situation
and find out why the fre e com m on schools w ere not getting adequate
su p p o rt. Mann fe lt th at, a fte r such an a n aly sis of the p ro b lem , a
cam paign could be m ounted to overcom e it.
Mann, a fte r his f ir s t c irc u it th rough the sta te , cam e to the
conclusion th at th e re w as g re a t apathy tow ard public education. In
m any p lac es throughout the sta te the public schools had so d eg en erated
that m o st of the people had w ithdraw n th e ir ch ild ren and placed them
in p riv a te o r p a ro c h ial sch o o ls. Mann felt that a twofold a tta c k had to
188
be s ta rte d to re v e rs e the tre n d , o th erw ise it would lead to th e end of
the fre e com m on school. The f i r s t p ro g ra m w hich had to be launched
w as a p ro g ra m w hich would im prove the quality of the com m on
sch o o ls. T his involved a ll a sp e c ts of the ed ucational p ro c e s s , such
as a g re a te r supply of com petent te a c h e rs , b e tte r sch o o lh o u ses, m o re
equipm ent, im proved textbooks, lib r a r ie s , and, m o st of a ll, in v o lv e
m en t of the people in each d is tric t in the running of th e ir sch o o ls.
W ithout an involved public, none of the o th er m e a s u re s could be a c
co m p lish ed . The second p ro g ra m w as to be a cam paign to point out
th a t the p riv a te schools w ere doing m o re h a rm than good to o u r whole
so ciety by im p airin g the developm ent of the com m on sch o o ls.
The developm ent of a co n sid era b le num ber of p riv a te schools
divides the m oney av ailab le fo r th e su p p o rt of the sch o o ls.
The education fund is thus divided into two p a rts . N eith er of
the h alv es does a q u a rte r of the good w hich m ight be acco m p lish ed
by a union of the w hole. One p a rty pays an adequate p ric e , but
h as a poor school; the o th er h as a good school, but a t m o re than
fourfold c o st. W ere th e ir funds and th e ir in te re s t com bined, the
p o o re r school m ight be as good as the b e st, and the d e a re s t a l
m o st as low as the c h ea p est. (45:11:410)
F o r the w elfare of the g re a t m a jo rity of the ch ild ren , it is im
p e ra tiv e th a t the "education fund" not be divided. Mann e la b o ra te s on
th is when he sa y s: "T he m ain ten an ce of fre e schools r e s ts w holly u p
on the so c ia l p rin c ip le . It is e m p h atically the case w here m en, in d i
vidually p o w e rle ss, a re c o llec tiv e ly stro n g " (45:11:411). M ann a lso
points out th at the population d e n sity in M a ssa c h u se tts m ak es fo r a
fav o rab le situation in w hich the com m on schools can be m ain tain ed .
H ow ever, they a re endangered when m any people s ta r t sending th e ir
c h ild ren to p riv a te sch o o ls. "Som e few p e rso n s in a village o r town, "
189
Mann re m a rk s
finding the advantages of the Com m on School inadequate to th e ir
w ants, unite to e stab lish a p riv ate one. They tra n s fe r th e ir c h il
d re n fro m the fo rm e r to the la tte r . The h e a rt goes w ith the t r e a
su re . The Com m on School c e a se s to be v isited by those whose
ch ild ren a re in the p riv a te . Such p a re n ts decline serv in g as co m
m itte e -m e n . They have now no p erso n al m otive to vote fo r, or
advocate, any in c re a se of the tow n's annual a p p ro p riatio n fo r
schools; to say nothing of the tem p tatio n to d isco u rag e such in
c re a s e in in d ire c t w ays, o r even to vote d ire c tly a g ain st it. "
(45:11:411-412)
T his so rt of thing can snow ball. L ack of support can cause
fu rth e r d e te rio ra tio n in the com m on school, and m o re people w ill
w ithdraw th e ir children and place th em in p riv ate schools. F u rth e r
if, by th is m eans, som e of the b e st sc h o lars happen to be taken
fro m the Common Schools, the standard of th at school is low ered.
The low er c la ss e s in a school have no a b s tra c t standard of e x c e l
len ce, and seldom aim at higher attainm ents than th at which they
daily w itn ess. All children, like a ll m en, ris e easily to the c o m
m on lev e l. T here the m a ss stop; strong m inds only asce n t high
e r. But ra is e the stan d ard , and, by a spontaneous m ovem ent,
the m ass w ill ris e again, and re a c h it. Hence the rem o v al of the
m o st forw ard sc h o la rs fro m a school is not a sm all m isfo rtu n e. "
(45:11:412)
F in ally , the com m on schools com e to be in the hands of those "who
have not the d e sire o r the pow er, e ith e r to im prove it o r to com m and
a b e tte r" (45:11:412). Mann points out that th is has happened in M a ssa
ch u setts. He c ites sta tis tic s to the effect th at, of fo rty -th re e towns
(containing about tw o-fifths of the population of the State excluding
Boston) only fo urteen m aintained fre e schools. Those towns which did
not m aintain fre e com m on schools w ere in d ire c t violation of sta te
law . Yet, Mann states
th ese tw enty-nine delinquent tow ns, if we leave out the th re e
c itie s of B oston, Low ell and Salem , stand in the v ery fro n t rank
of w ealth and population. (45:11:414)
Mann also notes that larg e funds a re expended in th ese sam e
190
towns for private schools and academ ies. This leaves a situation
w here the children of poorer fam ilies have no schools. Once the
academ ies and private schools a re established, Mann points out
they draw th eir ablest re c ru its from the Common Schools; and by
being able to offer higher com pensation, they have a pre-em ptive
right to the best qualified teach ers; while, sim ultaneously, the
d istric t schools a re reduced in length, deteriorated in quality,
and, to som e extent, b ereft of talents competent for instruction.
(45:11:415)
T here is another, and even m ore im portant, factor involved in
the development of private schools. Mann feels that the original p u r
pose of free common schools is that they serve as a common m eeting
ground for children of all c lasses and groups. Originally, in New
England, everyone belonged to the same Church. In M ann's tim e,
there w ere m any different denominations in M assachusetts. Mann
feels that children from all denominations and social classes should
partake of a common education and have the experience of going
through the sam e school together. Thus, one organization can reach
all the children at certain age levels. F ro m M ann's point of view this
is an extrem ely im portant aspect of the common schools. This p e r
m its them to be used as the m eans for developing attitudes about d e
m ocracy and m orality -which a re so im portant to the m aintenance and
extension of the new dem ocratic experim ent. T herefore Mann feels
that the development of private schools is against the in te rest of the
people of the whole State. He points out, once again, that the theory
of the laws and institutions of M assachusetts is
first, that in every d istric t of every town in the Commonwealth,
there should be a free d istric t school, sufficiently safe, and suf
ficiently good, for all the children within its te rrito ry , where
they m ay be well instructed in the rudim ents of knowledge,
191
form ed to p ro p riety of dem eanor, and imbued w ith the p rin cip les
of duty; and second, in re g a rd to every town, having such an in
c re a se d population as im plies the p o ssessio n of sufficient w ealth,
that th e re should be a school of an advanced c h a ra c te r, offering
an equal w elcom e to each one of the sam e children, whom a p ecu
lia r destination, o r an im pelling sp irit of genius, shall send to
its open doors, - -esp ecially to the children of the poor, who c an
not incur the expenses of a resid en c e fro m hom e in o rd e r to a t
tend such a school. It is th is com m on platform , that a g en eral
acquaintanceship should be fo rm ed between the children of the
sam e neighborhood. It is h e re that the affinities of a com m on n a
ture should unite them to g eth er so as to give advantages of p r e -
occupancy and a stable p o ssessio n to fra te rn a l feelings, again st
the alienating com petitions of subsequent life. (45:11:417-18)
Mann h ere states a point he m akes m any tim e s in his w ritin g s.
He feels that, in the com m on schools, children of the ric h and ch il-
« t
d re n of the poor have the opportunities to develop " fra te rn a l feelings"
growing out of th eir com m on e x p erien c es. The only antidote to e n
hancing the developm ent of conflict between c la sse s and sects, is the
com m on school, according to Mann. To p e rfo rm this function it has
to be free .
Until the com m on schools w ere elevated, Mann could not
blam e som e p arents for sending th e ir children to b e tte r private
r
schools, even though he felt they "ought to cooperate" (45:11:419) with
the goal of raising the level of the comm on schools. Since "m o re than
fiv e-six th s of the children of the State a re dependent upon the Com mon
Schools fo r instruction, " Mann continues
and would have no substitute if they becam e v alu eless; while less
than one-sixth a re educated in the private schools and acad em ies,
and these would be educated, even if the Com mon Schools w ere
abolished. To hold one-sixth of the children to be equal to five-
sixths, I should deem to be as g rea t an e r r o r in m o ra ls as it
would be in a rith m e tic . (45:11:419)
Mann, in his general th eo ry that each child has a n atu ral right
to an education, em phasizes the point that any actions which hinder a
192
child in securing an education a re m orally wrong. It is up to society
to make certain that each child has his opportunity to an education.
Mann m akes a statem ent lauding
the bestowment of equal school privileges upon all the children in
the town, whether they chanced to belong to a large d istric t or to
a sm all one, to a rich d istrict or to a poor one. The amount and
quality of education which a child should receive from the town of
its nativity or residence, should not depend upon his being born
or having his home on one side o r the other of a school d istric t
boundary, a rb itra rily drawn. The republican and the C hristian
doctrine is, --the bestowment of equal privileges upon all, and
then let the fortunes of each individual depend upon the use which
he m akes of the privileges bestowed. (35:145)
School L ib raries
Mann feels that one should look upon the common schools, not
as ends in them selves, but as instrum ents to be used in molding chil
dren into the kind of intelligent, m oral, and useful citizens that are
necessary for the maintenance and extention of dem ocracy. Mann, in
his Third Annual R eport, bemoans the fact that there is a "lamentable
prevalence of m echanical, instead of intelligent, reading our schools"
(28:46-47). He then goes on to point out that a great deal of knowledge
"can be acquired through the medium of intelligent reading, compared
or contrasted with the scantiness of information, obtainable in all
other ways" (28:47). The ability to read gives people the possibility
of moving through space and backwards in tim e in such a way that
they can have many experiences they could not otherwise have. These
vicarious experiences perm it people to extend their knowledge and
understanding of the world. The im portant point, then, is that after
children have learned to read, "what shall they r e a d ?" (28:47). With
"no books to read, " Mann continues
193;
the power of reading will be u se less, and with bad books to read,
! the consequences will be as m uch w orse than ignorance, as w is
dom is b etter. What books, then, a re these, accessib le to the
I g reat m ass of the children of the State, adapted to th e ir m o ral
and intellectual wants, and fitted to nourish th eir m inds with the
elem ents of uprightness and wisdom ?" (28:47)
In looking over the lib ra rie s throughout the State, Mann com es
to the conclusion that th ere is little available which can be used in de
veloping good reading habits in the children. Mann has m ade a su r-
i
vey of home lib ra rie s, public and sem i-public lib ra rie s . T hese se m i-
i public lib ra rie s a re those of some of the institutions of higher le a rn -
: ing like Howard, A m herst and Andover. He has m ade a statistical
study of the books available lib ra ry by lib ra ry including those of m e
chanics institutes, debating societies, lyceum s, and so forth. With
reg ard to the books in the lib ra rie s surveyed, Mann finds
alm ost all the answ ers concur in the opinion, that the contents of
the lib ra rie s a re not adapted to the intellectual and m o ral wants
of the young; an opinion, which a referen ce to the title s, in the
catalogues, will fully justify. (28:57-58)
Mann feels that the ta ste s of the m en and women of the future
< • *
a re being generated by the reading habits they develop as children.
"E very book, which a child reads with intelligence, is like a cast of
the w eav er's shuttle, adding another thread to the indestructible web
of existence" (28:49). But with very little suitable m a te ria l available
for children, the children have little m ore than th e ir school texts to
read. Mann, th erefo re, proposes that school lib ra rie s be established
throughout the State. He hopes these lib ra rie s will have a wide selec
tion of books which will be suitable for the children and also books
which will be available and interestin g to the local public. They
should be open to children and adults. He feels that the adults will
194
benefit fro m the lib ra rie s as m uch as the children. T here should be
books available to all the local c ra ftsm e n which w ill broaden th e ir
understanding of th e ir own c ra ft. Women of the town should be able,
to obtain "that knowledge on a thousand subjects, which is so d e sirab le
in the c h a ra c te r of a fem ale" (28:87). Mann en la rg es upon his point
that lib ra rie s established in ev ery school in the state will aid in the
w ider d issem ination of knowledge to the c itize n ry as a whole. The
people w ill have a new stake and take a new in te re s t in the school of
th e ir com m unity. He says that "the uniform policy of governm ents
has been to c re a te a few m en of g rea t learn in g ra th e r than to diffuse
knowledge among the m en" (45:11:313). The state w here all the c o m
mon schools have lib ra rie s will be b e tte r off, how ever, because of
the to tal useful knowledge of the whole com m unity can be enlarged.
This w ill tend to in c re a se the usefulness and the p lea su re of all the
people (45:11:312).
The scientific or lite ra ry w ell-being of a com m unity is to be e s
tim ated not so m uch by its p o ssessin g a few m en of g re a t know l
edge, as by its having m any m en of com petent knowledge; and e s
pecially is this so, if the m any have been stinted in o rd e r to a g
grandize the few. (45:11:315)
H orace M ann's unique and p erso n al tu rn of m ind is am usingly
displayed in his re m a rk s on the effect of opening a lib ra ry in each
school. "A lib ra ry w ill produce one effect upon children, " he r e
m a rk s
and upon the neighborhood generally, before they have rea d one
of the books, and even if they should never read one of them . It
is in this way:—The' m ost ignorant a re the m ost conceited. U n
le ss a m an knows that th ere is som ething m o re to be known, his
inference is, of co u rse, that he knows e v ery thing. Such a m an
always usu rps the throne of un iv ersal knowledge, and a ssu m e s
the right of deciding all possible questions. We all know that a
195
conceited dunce will decide questions extem poraneously, which
would puzzle a college of philosophers, or a bench of judges. Ig
norant and shallow-minded m en do not see far enough to see the
difficulty. But let a man know that there a re things to be known,
of which he is ignorant, and it is so much carved out of his do
m ain of universal knowledge. And for all purposes of individual
c h aracter, as well as of social usefulness, it is quite as im p o r
tant for a m an to know the extent of his own ignorance as it is
any thing else. To know how much there is that we do not know,
is one of the m ost valuable p arts of our attainm ents; for such
knowledge becom es both a lesson of humility and a stim ulus to
exertion. Let it be laid down as a universal direction to teachers,
when students are becoming proud of th e ir knowledge, to spread
open before them some pages of the trem endous volume of their
ignorance. (45:11:319-20)
Mann then sum s up his whole argum ent in an appeal to the legislature.
"F rom all I have heard and learned, " he rem ark s
it is my belief, that the L egislature can do no one thing, which
shall be so acceptable to the friends of Common School education
in M assachusetts, as to devise some plan by which a school l i
b ra ry shall be placed in every d istric t school in the State. (28:99)
Additional Considerations
G eneral Education
. Mann always em phasizes the sim ilarities between men. His
interest in the scientific approach to any field of possible investiga
tion lead him to attem pt to generalize.
In thinking of education, Mann was always thinking in te rm s
of what approaches would be effective and im portant for all human
beings. He m akes no statem ent which can fit into a m odern discussion
of the relationship between general education and specialized educa
tion directly, but he does indicate his position when he speaks of the
highest development of each individual as a m ajor goal in education.
"But far above and beyond all special qualifications for special p u r
suits, " he says
196
is the im portance of form ing to usefulness and honor, the capac
ities which are common to all mankind. The endowments that b e
long to all, a re of f a r g rea ter consequence than the peculiarities
of any. The p rac tic al fa rm e r, the ingenious m echanic, the ta l
ented a rtis t, the upright legislator or judge, the accom plished
teach er, should be only m odifications or v arieties of the original
m an. The m an is the trunk; occupations and professions a re only
different qualities of the fru it it should yield. T here a re m ore of
the sam e things to be taught to all, and learned by all, than there
are of different things to be im ported, distributively, to c la sses
consisting of a few. The development of the common nature; the
cultivation of the g erm s of intelligence, uprightness, benevo
lence, truth, that belong to a ll;--th e se a re the principal, the aim,
the end, - -while special preparations for the field o r the shop,
for the forum or the desk, for the land o r the sea, a re but inci
dents. (28:87-88)
Minimum and Maximum F re e Education
Mann was so involved in the development of the common
schools that during his 12 y ears with the State Board of Education he
attem pted to secure support for free schools at the elem entary and
1 secondary level. He m ade a definite statem ent in his F ir s t Annual
R eport which states in so many words that the state is not obligated
: to provide free public education beyond the secondary level. "After
the state shall have secured to all its children, " he states
that b asis of knowledge and m orality, which is indispensable to
its own security; a fte r it shall have supplied them with the in
strum ents of that individual prosperity, whose aggregate will
constitute its own social p ro sp erity ; then they m ay be em an ci
pated from its tutelege, each one to go w ithersoever his w ell-
instructed mind shall determ ine. At this point, sem in aries for
higher learning, academ ies and un iversities should stand ready
to receive, at private cost, all whose path to any ultim ate d e sti
nation m ay lie through th eir halls. (26:56)
In spite of this statem ent, it seem s that Mann would not lim it free
education to the common schools. T here a re a num ber of factors
which indicate that the theory that Mann was opposed to state sup
ported higher education is in co rrect. The f irs t factor is his strong
197
support for free norm al schools. These, of course, w ere schools
I which specialized in training tea ch e rs, yet, though they did not s ta rt
j
at that level at th eir inception, they all w ere m eant to be at the level
of higher education.
M ann's c le a re st statem ent on the m a tte r is in his Tenth Annual
R e p o rt. It is in this re p o rt w here he develops his ideas on custodial
I p ro p erty rights and the absolute natural right of every person to an
! education. He then m akes the following statem ent:
Under a republican governm ent, it seem s c le ar that the m inim um
of this education can never be less than such as is sufficient to
qualify each citizen for the civil and social duties he will be called
to d isc h a rg e ;--su c h an education as teaches the individual the
g reat laws of bodily health; as qualifies for the fulfillm ent of p a r-
tal duties; as is indispensible for the civil functions of a w itness
or a ju ro r; as is n e ce ssa ry fo r the voter in m unicipal affairs;
and finally, for the faithful and conscientious discharge of all
those duties which devolve upon the inheritor of a portion the
sovereignty of this g reat republic. (35:112)
H ere Mann is speaking of the m inim um educational req u irem en ts.
I
His whole position suggests that, as this country grows and develops
|
in complexity, this m inim um can only be achieved by extending each
individual's education beyond the level which Mann feels was n e c e s
sa ry in 1838, the y ear of his F ir s t Annual R eport. M ann's whole
position, which v a ctrsto o d education to be an in strum ent whereby the
people achieve certain social goals, would fu rth er substantiate the
proposition that, when it was socially d esirab le to have a great m any
people educated to higher levels than the secondary, Manti would have
been in favor of free higher education. Mann did not re ite ra te the
statem ent he m ade in his F ir s t Annual R eport. It seem s probable
that with his theories of p ro g re ss and the perfectability of m an he
198
would have supported an act like the M orrill Act if he had lived b e
yond 1859. This interpretation is directly opposed to the usual in te r
pretation of M ann's position as this is rep resen ted by C rem in in The
Republic and the School (9:25).
Sum m ary
! In all his work in education, Horace Mann followed a consis-
i
| tent policy which stem m ed from his social philosophy and his concep-
| tion of the world and of m an 's relationship to it. It can be clearly
1 seen, in examining his statem ents regarding the nature of the le a rn e r
and learning theory, tbe curriculum , c la ssro o m m ethods, the tra in -
! ing of teach ers, and the problem s of adm inistration that, in each
: specific case, the way of thinking about the problem was fundam en
tally philosophical. In analyzing m ost of M ann's specific approaches
to problem s, it can be said that he used a method la te r m ade famous
! by Dewey in his L ogic. Mann tried to analyze each p articu lar p ro b
lem in such a way that the probable answ ers w ere clearly visible.
He would then project possible consequences in concrete te rm s . Mann
approached each problem assum ing his general theory, that is his
social philosophy, to be tru e . This is the method in all scientific
procedure. As A ristotle originally, and C. S. P eirce m uch later,
: point out, in the advancem ent of knowledge, one always procedes
from what one knows to lea rn m ore about what one does not know.
P eirce used this m axim in his devastating c ritic ism of D e sc artes'
famous method of doubt. P eirce pointed out that it is im possible to
get knowledge by doubting everything at once. E very investigator
199
m u st have a sta rtin g point (57:111); M ann's attack on all prob lem s
sta rte d fro m his basic philosophical approach.
CHAPTER VII
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Sum m ary
The m ajor hypothesis which underlies this study is that
Horace Mann was fundamentally a social philosopher and that he r e
garded all of his work in the field of education as a way to achieve
certain specific social goals. It is a corollary contention of this
study that the relationship between Mann's social philosophy and his
educational activities has not been evaluated correctly and that a r e -
evaluation is in ord er.
The belief in natural law and natural human rights was com
mon to all the founding fathers of the United States. Mann carried
these ideas further than they had been carried . He did not share the
a risto c ratic intellectualism of Jefferson, Monroe, and Madison.
Mann's social philosophy took on some of the color of the age of Jack
son. However, it was the m ore inclusive dem ocracy of the Jacksoni-
ans that Mann adopted. He rejected their anti-intellectualism .
Mann believed that dem ocracy required educated citizens. He
believed that all men and women w ere educable. He saw that dem oc
racy itself would fail if citizens w ere not trained to inform them selves
200
201
before exercising the voting privilege.
Mann lived at the beginning of what m ust have been the e a rth 's
!
! m o st expansive century, the nineteenth. He saw the possibility that
all A m ericans could live in plenty. His belief in p ro g re ss, his belief
| in the infinite p erfectability of m an, and his optim ism all fit into his
' total picture of the potential of A m erican dem ocracy.
I
| Not only did Mann feel that education was n e c e ssa ry for de-
! m o cracy , but he hoped that the education of future scien tists and in-
i
• ventors would bring m ore m a te ria l abundance that would be beneficial
to all the people. In M ann's day the problem of want was one of a r e a l
lack of goods, not a problem of distribution. He took over as S e c re -
j ta ry of the State Board of Education in the middle of the firs t g reat
I econom ic c ris is this country had seen.
Given the job of organizing the schools of M assachusetts,
Mann consulted his inner convictions and put them to work with r e
m arkable consistency. He rejected the negative tenets of Calvinism
; which had m ade his own childhood b itte r. His rejection was based,
in part, on his belief, opposite to the C alvinist's, that children w ere
born good ra th e r than evil.
The m ain philosophical concept which Mann brought to b e ar on
i the problem s of education was his idea that m ankind achieves well
being by living in harm ony with the laws of nature. He felt that a
dem ocratic society supported by the education of each individual to
his highest potential would be in harm ony with the laws of nature and
bring mankind its g re a te st happiness.
To the field of education Mann brought his g reat enthusiasm
202
and his p erso n al com bination of p rac tic ality and im agination. He
! recognized th at children could not sit quietly if c h airs w ere too un-
I
1 com fortable. He rea liz ed that children could not love learning if they
w ere cold, hungry, and afraid of being beaten in school.
M ann's contribution to child psychology was unique. Made in
i the context of education, it was m o re than educational psychology.
i
| To H orace Mann children and women w ere people with the inalienable
i
rights m entioned in the C onstitution. Mann added a few rights of
; children: the right to s e lf-re s p e c t, the right to health, the right to
physical com fort, and above all the right to develop th e ir potential.
Mann thought of these as natu ral rights of children, but he
also thought that th eir fulfillm ent would benefit the country. In fact
; this was n e c e ssa ry to the m aintenance and extension of d em ocracy.
The intim acy betw een theory and p rac tic e in M ann's perso n al -
: ity is revealed in his exposition of child psychology to the public.
The schools can only advance as fa r as the understanding of the public
p erm its them to advance. In his speeches and w ritings, Mann u n d e r
took to educate the general public to his ideas of what a good school
sy stem could do. To this ta sk he gave all of his political skill.
I T here is no question that Mann recognized this as a political task. In
: his w ritings th ere is no indication that he m ade any c le ar distinction
j
betw een his social, political and educational resp o n sib ilitie s.
N either educational institutions nor education itself w ere, for
Mann, ends in th em selv es. As a social philosopher, he looked upon
education as a tool to be used in the developm ent of m en as individuals
and in the developm ent of society.
203
M isconceptions about Mann a re based, to a la rg e d eg ree, on
B. A. H insdale's biography. Hinsdale was not sym pathetic to Mann.
He seem s to have been a C alvinist, while M ann's e n tire philosophy is
anti-C alvinist. While not m aking obvious m issta te m e n ts of fact,
Hinsdale m anages to convey, in m any instances, the exact opposite
idea from that given by M ann's own w ritings and speeches.
Hinsdale se t the tone for in terp retin g Mann as a "m an of a c
tion. " Hinsdale lived in a philosophical m ilieu w here it was com m on
ly held that the province of the philosopher was the m ind. The phi
losopher was concerned with m an as a "thinking, " as opposed to a
"doing, " being. "A philosopher is a m an who thinks" becam e for
m any in this id ea list tradition, "a m an who only thinks is a p hiloso
pher. " They then com m itted the e r r o r of switching the subject and
pred icate in a proposition w here th is is im p e rm issib le , to yield the
conclusion, "A philosopher is one who only thinks. "
V ery few philosophers, of course, would hold this position
today. A ctually v e ry few have e v er held it. T here have been many,
on the other hand, who separated intellectual understanding as one
re a lm of hum an activity from the m o ral, o r ethical, re a lm of hum an
activity. The la tte r re a lm was thought of as that of the "active m an, "
while the intellectual re a lm was thought of as that of the "thinking
m an. " This p erm itted som e p h ilo so p h e rs--fo r instance, m any logical
p o sitiv is ts --to say, "I think this as a philosopher, and I do that as a
m a n . " H orace Mann did not think in te rm s of the dichotom y between
thought and action. He did not think in te rm s of the sep aratio n be-
204
w een the re a lm of the in te lle ct and the re a lm of m o rality . His e n tire
philosophical position w as based upon the functional unity between
thought and action and betw een the re a lm of the intellect, which m en
call "scien ce, " and the re a lm of action, which m en call "eth ics. "
Not only w as th is b a sic to M ann's position, as illu stra te d throughout
th is study, but it w as a position which Mann held consciously.
E. I. F. W illiam s, Joy E lm e r M organ, and L aw rence C rem in
all understood this and tr e a t Mann as a m o ral philosopher. This
study has attem pted to am plify the an aly sis which they have sta rte d .
Raymond B. C ulver and Neil G e ra rd M cCluskey also understood that
Mann was m aking th e o re tic a l as w ell as p ra c tic a l contributions to
' education. They exam ined his contributions in the a re a of the rela tio n
of religion and m o ra lity to education.
M ost of those who have w ritten on H orace Mann have m ade one
m a jo r e r r o r . This applies even to those who feel th at Mann m ade a
: su b stan tial th e o re tic a l as w ell as a p ra c tic a l contribution to A m erican
education. They have alm o st unanim ously thought th at M ann's goals
w e re, as Louis F ille r says, attained "too w ell" o r that, as L aw rence
C re m in puts it: "M ann had won his victory" (9:27).
Conclusions
On the b a sis of this study, the conclusion seem s w a rran ted
th at M ann's goals have not been achieved. If one looks upon Mann as
a "m an of action, " one can point to all his specific achievem ents in
education. If, how ever, Mann is seen as fundam entally a social p h i
lo so p h er who looked upon education as a tool to gain social and indi
205
vidual ends, then it is obvious that Mann not only did not gain his
goals "too well, " but that, indeed, they have not been approached to
!
| anywhere near the point which would have satisfied him.
The resu lts of this study seem to w arran t the a sse rtio n that
Mann m ade significant contributions to the-developm ent of the concept
I of fre e public education as well as to the developm ent of the re la tio n
ship between social philosophy and education. F u rth e r, M ann's th eo
re tic a l contributions have not been understood by m ost of those who
i
' have w ritten on the subject. A re-evaluation is c le arly in o rd er.
Recom m endations
A num ber of recom m endations stem d irectly from this study.
1. A total re-ev alu atio n of M ann's work is n ecessary .
2. M ann's w ork in the a re a of higher education should be
analyzed along the guidelines suggested by this study.
3. A reas of M ann's work which w arran t additional co n sid era
tion a re his work as a m em b er of C ongress, his speeches on slavery,
and his defense of D rayton and S ayres. There is m a te ria l here for
both th eo retical and actional analysis.
4. An analysis of the relationship between M ann's ideas and
I som e of those ideas propounded by m ajo r educational figures of the
I p resen t day would be fruitful. F ro m the question of how reading
should be taught to that of the responsibility of the public schools for
developing m o ral hum an beings, num erous a re a s of com parison exist.
5. An attem pt should be m ade to place Mann in his proper
place in the m ain strea m of A m erican thought. W here that place is,
rem ain s doubtful; that he has such a place is cle ar.
i
B I B L I O G R A P H Y
206
207
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
1. A ristotle. The Nicomachean E th ics. T r a n s l a t e d with an analysis
and c ritic a l notes by J. E. C. Welldon. Londou: M acm illan
and C o ., L td ., 1930.
2. Boyd, W illiam. The H istory of W estern Education. 5th e d .,
enlarged. London: Adam & C harles Black, 1950.
3. Bury, J. B. The Idea of P ro g re ss An Inquiry into its Origin and
Growth. New York: Dover Publications, In c ., 19&S.
4. C icero, M arcus Tulluis. De Re Publican, De Legibus (with an
English translation by tilinton W alker Keyes). Cambridge:
H arvard University P re s s , 1943.
5. Clem ens, Samual. A Connecticut Yankee in King A rth u r's C o urt.
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In c ., 1963.
6. Combe, George. The Constitution of Man. Considered in R ela
tion to External Objects (from the 3rd enlarged Edinburgh
e d .), E rie, P a ., O. D. Spafford, 1845.
7. Combe, George. M oral Philosophy; or, The Duties of Man Con
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corrections. New York: S. R. Wells and C o., 1878.
8. Com m ager, Henry Steele. The E ra of Reform 1830-1860.
Princeton, New Jersey : D. Van Nostrand C o ., In c ., I960.
9. C rem in, Lawrence A. (e d .). The Republic and the School.
H orace Mann on the Education of P ree Men. New York;
Bureau of Publications T eachers College; Columbia U niversity
1957.
10. Cubberly, Elwood P. The H istory of Education. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin C o., 1920.
11. Cubberly, Elwood P. Public Education in the United S tates.
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12. Culver, Raymond B. Horace Mann and Religion in the M assachu
setts Public Schools. New Haven: Yale University P re s s ;
London, H. Milford, Oxford U niversity P re s s , 1929.
208
13. C urti, M erle. The Social Ideas of A m erican E d u c a to rs; with
new chapter on the L ast T w enty-F ive Y ears. P a terso n , New
J e rs e y : L ittlefield, A dam s & C o ., 1965. ( F irs t published in
1935: New York, C h arles S c rib n e r's Sons).
14. D e sc a rte s . S electio n s. Edited and with an introduction by Ralph
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15. Dewey, John. The Influence of D arw inism on Philosophy and
O ther E ssay s in C ontem p orary Thought. New York: H enry
Holt and Co. T 'l 91 O '.
16. Dewey, John. Logic: The T heory of Inquiry. New York: H enry
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17. Duggan, Stephen P ie rc e . A Student's Textbook in the H istory of
E ducation. New York: D. Appleton & C o ., I^ l6 .
18. F ille r, Louis (e d .) H orace Mann on the C risis in E ducation.
Yellow Springs, Ohio: The Antioch P r e s s , 1965.
19. Good, H. G. A H istory of A m erican E ducation. New York: The
M acm illan C o., 1959.
20. Hansen, Kenneth H arvey. Public Education in A m erican S ociety.
Englewood Cliffs, New Je rse y : P re n tic e-H all, inc. , 1957.
21. H insdale, Burke A aron. H orace Mann and the Com mon School
Revival in the United S tates. New York: d . S c rib n e r's Sons,
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22. H ofstadter, R ichard. A n ti-in tellectu alism in A m erican L ife.
New York: A lfred A. knopf, 1963.
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Students On Some of L ife 's id e a ls . New York: W. W. N orton
& C o ., I n c ., 1958.
24. Jam es, Wm. The Will to B elieve and O ther E ssa y s in Popular
Philosophy. New York, London: Longm ans, G reen ana Co.,
T O
25. Knight, E dgar W. Education in the United S ta te s. 3rd ed. r e
vised. Boston: Ginn and C o ., 19J>1.
26. Mann, H orace. F i r s t Annual R eport of the B oard of Education
together with the F ir s t Annual R eport of the S e c re ta ry of the
B o a rd . Boston: DuHon and W entworth, 1836.
27. Mann, H orace. Second Annual R eport of the B oard of Education
to g eth er with the Second Annual R eport of the S e c re ta ry of the
209
B o ard . Boston: DuHon and W entworth, 1839.
28. Mann, Horace. T hird Annual R eport of the B oard of Education
together with the T hird Annual R eport of the S e c re ta ry of the
B o ard . Boston: DuHon and W entworth, 1846.
29. Mann, H orace. F ourth Annual R eport of the Board of Education
together with the F ourth Annual R eport of the S e c re tary of the
B oard. Boston: DuHon and W entworth, i8 4 i.
30. Mann, Horace, Fifth Annual R eport of the Board of Education
together with the Fifth Annual R eport of the S e c re ta ry of tTie
B oard. Boston: DuHon and W entworth, 1842.
31. Mann, H orace. Sixth Annual R eport of the Board of Education
together with the Sixth Annual"Report of the S e c re tary of tEe
B oard. Boston: DuHon and W entworth, 1843.
32. Mann, H orace. Seventh Annual R eport of the B oard of Education
together with the Seventh Annual R eport of the S e c re tary of the
B oard. Boston: DuHon and W entworth, 1844.
33. Mann, H orace. Eighth Annual R eport of the Board of Education
together with tl ' '
B oard. Boston
together with the Eighth Annual R eport of the S ecretary of the
: DuHon and W entworth, 1846.
34. Mann, H orace. Ninth Annual R eport of the B oard of Education
together with the fJinth Annual R eport of the S e c re ta ry of the
B oard. Boston: DuHon and W entworth, 1846.
35. Mann, H orace. Tenth Annual R eport of the Board of Education
together with the Tenth Annual R eport of the S e c re tary of the
B o ard . Boston: DuHon and W entworth, 1847.
36. Mann, H orace. Eleventh Annual R eport of the Board of Education
together with the Eleventh Annual R eport of the {Secretary of
the B oard. Boston: Dutton and iVentworth, lfJ48.
37. Mann, Horace. Twelfth Annual R eport of the B oard of Education
together with the T'welfth Annual R eport of the S e c re tary of tEe
B o ard . Boston: DuHon and W entworth, 1849.
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Creator Fels, Leonard Abraham (author)

Core Title The Educational Philosophy Of Horace Mann

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Education

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

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Advisor O'Neill, William S. (committee chair), Martin, David W. (committee member), Pullias, Earl Vivon (committee member)

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