School: 1770-1900

    Schools are one of the most important institutions of knowledge that anyone can attend to get started in life. It was not always accessible for everyone though and public schools came to be through the help of many important figures starting as early as 1770. A nation would not be able to go very far if its citizens were not educated and I believe this statement to be true. Thomas Jefferson was the one to start this dream and it will be carried on through other people such as Noah Webster and Horace Mann. This would not be any easy task as the common school is a debated conflict of economical, ethnical, gender, racial, and religious differences.

    Horace Mann was referred to as the father of the common school movement as he was the main advocate of education reform during his time. He thought that public schools were the best way to bring economical and social boosts to all Americans. This would indeed expand the American economy and discipline future generations to prevent social disorders. Mann would leave his career as a Massachusetts lawyer and legislator to become a secretary of the board of education in 1837. His quote that education is the great equalizer of the conditions of men is basically saying that everyone can be on equal footing no matter what kind of background someone has.

    The ideas of Mann would eventually spread out beyond Massachusetts and other reformers from other states joined in on the movement. Public schools started to establish preparing teachers for the new profession of education. They also spread the message of being more open and caring with more subjects to study from in their courses. This all came to be because of the inspiration from Thomas Jefferson and improvements by Horace Mann and many others.