HORACE MANN

[Music] one of the fundamentals of a sound democracy is a free and democratic educational system with the doors to learn knowledge open to all citizens in the united states the man most response is born may 4th 1796 in franklin massachusetts when he was 13 his father died leaving young hor and his two brothers and sisters to face a life of toil and privation although young horus became familiar with books at an early age he was able to go to school only 10 weeks i see you're not satisfied with the seat i gave you horace it's not that sir the roof would like to sit in the wet sir yeah we'd all be swimming in here then our school is not satisfying to you is that it masterman speak up horace tell the truth now i'll have you out for a flogging well sir out with it all right sir i don't like this school it's in the rain cold in the winter is that all no sir that isn't all we never learn anything here all we do is memorize memorize memorized we never find out what anything means then why don't you drop out of school and go to a private academy since you're so much above the rest of us we don't have enough money i have to be content with this when he was 20 horace mann was able to achieve his first great ambition enrollment in brown university there his literary ability and wide range of knowledge so the president has written you personally stay on here at brown and teach yes i'm afraid i shall have to decline but you're always talking about education i thought you were interested of course i'm interested but in a few days we'll be graduating and i intend to read for the law well i don't blame you offering you 350 a year to teach here why you could make as much as that in one law case alone isn't the money so much ira though i've always been poor and can use it i just think i can do more as a lawyer as a lawyer i could convince the people that count i might consent to teach for a short while congratulations horace old man i just heard the news from the prexy's office you've been made class valedictorian good boy horace they couldn't have chosen anyone else you'll give them the speech that the grey beards will never forget what do you say mr genius i don't know i don't know oh come on my fine feathered friend you suspected it all along you've been writing your speech for a week come on a few words in advance a country can be no greater than its greatest educational institution a society can be best developed through its schools and if a nation is ever to abolish wars and oppressions it will require the free institutions that can only grow from a broad and enlightened educational system in 1819 horace mann graduated from college at the head of his class although he remained at brown to teach for a while he soon resumed his law studies and was admitted to the norfolk bar in 1823 [Music] seven years later after attaining considerable success as a practicing lawyer man married charlotte messer but their happiness was short-lived for she died only two years later at the urging of friends man left the scenes of his former happiness for boston where he was elected to the massachusetts state senate he became president of that body and his work on public charities temperance and religious liberty soon made him an outstanding figure you really stirred them up yesterday with your ideas on religious liberty horace we haven't had such a round month i'll always oppose legislation which intends to determine by law for all future time which religions are right and which are wrong the uh debates on the railroads this afternoon what stand will you take as a distinguished lawyer what's your position well i think you gentlemen know how i feel we must be liberal with legislation which will help commerce at the moment this new industrialism is changing the fabric of our society revolutionizing our ways of living if we help the railroads grow our state will prosper i see they've begun work on the state hospital for the insane massachusetts should be proud of having the first asylum in the united states and you two men for your work in its behalf it's only beginning gentlemen mr metcalf you're the best authority in the state on legislative procedure now i've been thinking it's high time for a proper organization of the statutes on our books they should all be indexed condensed into one volume so that all matter pertaining to one subject can easily be found and understood but it was not until 1837 that horace mann began to take a more active part in meeting the challenge facing the schools of the nation [Music] ah gentlemen at last i've persuaded the hard-working mr man to come to one of our meetings horace usually puts in a 15-hour day you worked america governor everett i've learned through bitter experience that when politicians and educators meet in private i'd better be around to watch things if anything is going to be done about the schools in this state politicians and educators are going to have to get together you've been away from the situation a long time horus frankly things are worse especially in massachusetts schools here and throughout the united states have poor public support poor pupils untrained teachers poor buildings and poor textbooks aren't your educators making a mountain out of a molehill it seems that most of us have managed to get an education you came from a wealthy family mr grace you had a dozen schools to choose from you reformers i say if the common people want schools let them build them mr grace although i'm an outsider in this group i've always tried to watch the educational system with a pretty close eye it seems to me that uh an educated majority points to a democratic nation but why antagonize the people who count in this state look at this this sport of education you've just established it costs us a lot of weak votes i've always considered schools the most common schools as the seed beds of democracy if we don't cultivate them we'll raise a dwarfed and stunted crop i myself got my early schooling under such sterile conditions fine praises mr man but how are you going to get taxes out of the uneducated people who aren't interested in schooling of any sort by proving to them that without education you won't have freedom of speech of opportunity the smallest school in this country is the fountainhead of what is to be the future of this country we boast that boston is the cultural hub of the world at the moment that is a hollow phrase education knowledge is not the province of the few god gave every individual a brain and it is a solemn duty of every man in this room to support the idea that every man no matter how low his birth or slim his pocketbook be instructed how to use that brain horace mann's friends persuaded him to accept the secretary ship of massachusetts first board of education he soon found himself so busy in the new job that he was unable to continue his law practice and at the age of 41 man turned his back on his legal career to devote full time and energy to the school system of his state in the following years horace mann became known as the missionary of popular education and he went directly to the people to present his gospel of better schools instruction must first of all be made appetizing schools must have the facilities and apparatus to teach as many subjects as possible libraries should be a necessity well gentleman jeff you'll uh forgive my appearance i worked right through dinner and what do i attribute the honor of your visit in case you've forgotten horace you sent for ups oh yes yes i have a few ideas here sit down i'll send for some refreshments your hospitality is so warm i suspect that you are about to ask us to try to pass some more legislation on state education i have been thinking of some proposals that should be made into law of course you understand we're meeting more and more opposition as we go along horace of course i expected it that is why i'm concentrating first on educating the public i'm sending out my new proposals to the public in many ways to the town clerks of every village in the state this will start discussion i'm also distributing thousands of pamphlets to the public in general and my new magazine the uh common school journal will provoke thought what specific recommendations are you making now well first comes the construction of better schools then the pupils should be separated according to age and ability then we need better textbooks we need better opportunities for the training of teachers whoa whoa mr man if you expect us to help you you'll have to give us one thing at a time too many of the lawmakers will fight us every inch of the way all right gentlemen all right well this gentleman is a map of school districts instead of four or five badly built poorly equipped schools in one town why not consolidate them one central school housing equipment that all the students can use these schools could be used by the older children replacing academies which only the children of the wealthy can now use thus working through influential educators and politicians horace mann got legislation passed which centralized and streamlined school administration not only did man lay the groundwork for the development of the high school in the united states but he was one of the first educators to realize the necessity for schools for training teachers believe me mr man this is the first time i've enjoyed a lecture so much that i'm taking the speaker home to dinner mr dwight uh when you take into consideration the recompense i get from my services you'll understand why i'll enjoy a real dinner at the home of a wealthy man seriously mr man i was much impressed by what you said this afternoon that our schools can only be as good as our teachers special schools for training competent instructors i consider it the next most important move in the educational field one trained teacher will be worth 10 untrained the teachers are the backbone of any educational system yes but getting the lawmakers of the state to impress the taxpayers this is a necessity that is a big problem you know mr man sometimes when you teach the brain of a wealthy man you also touch his pocketbook you mean you're interested in helping in some way precisely that i've seen some of the opposition you've been up against i like a fighter what if i offered you ten thousand dollars to start the first school for teachers contingent upon the fact that the state puts up the same amount would that be a decisive factor in your argument who wouldn't how can i thank you mr dwight now your offer means more than money it will show some of the legislators that other people people of influence have faith in such an idea i must write some friends who'll be interested in your offer this very evening oh no mr man not tonight don't forget you're my guest at dinner and i'm paying well for the privilege by 1840 horace mann's efforts were rewarded by the establishment of the first three teachers normal schools in massachusetts and in 1843 man was married again this time to mary peabody of boston after they returned from a honeymoon in europe mann found that the publication of his seventh annual report had created a storm of controversy i'm really after you this time horace and your old friend the recorder thinks it has written your obituary i've already seen it sparks all i can say at the moment is that uh newspaper editors should be made to go to school themselves now irresponsible journalism does more to destroy the work of educational institutions than any one thing i know but the reverend smith the businessmen these are powerful opponents i'd hate to see all the advancements you've made in our school system destroy sparks i'm a very tired man but i can truthfully tell you i'm not worried the truth is on my side and it's the greatest ally i know reverend smith has misrepresented me as you know i have always encouraged the reading of bible and classrooms i've only objected to church-controlled education the schools must stand on their own feet as for the corporal punishment dispute i'm firmly convinced that uh you can get the cooperation of any child in shorter time by appealing to his better nature i think you're taking the matter much too lightly then you intend to do nothing you know me better than that i'm framing a reply i'll answer each allegation that committee has made i have infinite faith in the american public provided they are given the facts with the wholehearted support of the general public man won his last great victory in the educational field you know mary i've been so busy building school houses i've never had time to build a home of my own well we have one now and you no longer need roam the country like an arab and you should have had an extra room built for these books oh i'll manage to squeeze them all in the work room not work room horace library your working days are over i sometimes think it's only vanity pretending that you're a young man again don't tell me we're going to have visitors before we move in it is probably someone to see you dear i'll retire and be a good wife so this is west newton eh not far enough away from boston to hide from your old friends or politicians like yourself mr evan don't tell me you drove through the mud to help me paint mary's certainly excited before we go in since john quincy adams died we've been trying to find the proper man to take his place in the house of representatives your friends have persuaded the governor to appoint you impossible everyday thank them anyway for the honor but i'm a tired man we realize that but if you accept the appointment to adam's vacancy it will get the entire anti-slavery faction off to a fresh didn't you once say that before a man can be educated he must be free think of those words now i and i met him and you've never served in washington horse you'll get opportunities to talk about your blessed schools and education it means i'll have to resign the secretary of the board of education mary won't like my going of course but then she won't have to worry about the books i'll need them in washington in june 1848 horace mann went to washington where for five years he fought the spread of slavery in the united states but when daniel webster made his famous compromise speech man alienated his own supporters in the whig party by refusing to sacrifice the principle that slavery was not compatible with a free nation this attitude ended man's political career so in 1852 he accepted a new task as president of antioch college in yellow springs ohio in his commencement address to the students in june 1859 man once more stressed his belief in the promise of man educated man in building a world of harmony and tolerance and i beseech you to treasure up in your hearts these my parting words be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity horace mann died august 2nd 1859 but his work lives his victory for humanity is the spread of public education in the united states his efforts awaken citizens to the need for better teaching materials trained teachers and constructive democratic methods of learning so