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Liberty Univeristy From the SelectedWorks of Samuel J. Smith 2015 Common School Movement Samuel J. Smith, Liberty University Available at: http://works.bepress.com/samuel_smith/57/ THE COMMON SCHOOL MOVEMENT The unpublished manuscript below was written as a script for a video lecture for an online course. It is written in an informal voice and does not include citations or references. Sources for the information contained in this manuscript may be found in the bibliography available by clicking here. “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.” This quote by Horace Mann has challenged many to take on a cause and to see it through. Horace Mann’s cause was the common school movement. Many claim that, were it not for Mann’s skillful politicking and persuasive arguments, there would be no free public schooling in the United States today. Movements, however,—though often led by an individual—rarely occur simply because an individual person wished them to be so, and this was also true with the common school movement. Although there is no denying that Mann played an extremely significant role as Secretary to the Board of Education in Massachusetts, state legislator, U.S. Congressman, and editor of The Common School Journal—there were plenty of other people and other factors that played into the momentum that brought about the common school movement. Reformation Influence Three centuries before Horace Mann, the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther proposed a free educational system for all. Driven by a doctrine called “the priesthood of all believers” or “the universal priesthood,” Luther believed that it was wrong for clergy to be educated while the masses were so illiterate that they could not read the Bible for themselves. Had they been able to read Scripture, Luther argued, abuses of the church—such as the sale of indulgences and the call to fight in crusades—would have ended by revolt of those who knew the truth for themselves. Thus Luther’s emphasis on universal literacy through mass education. This same doctrine of the universal priesthood was espoused by John Calvin, whose influence was strong on the Puritans who founded Massachusetts Bay Colony. This influence led them to pass the first compulsory education law in 1647 called The Old Deluder Satan Act. It required towns of 50 families to hire a teacher. Towns of 100 families were to start a school that would prepare students for the university. The Old Deluder Satan Act established in the northern colonies a tradition of education and literacy that carried into the National Period. Jeffersonian Influence Another advocate for free public education was Thomas Jefferson. As Representative to the Virginia House of Delegates and later as Governor of Virginia, Jefferson proposed a Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge. Unfortunately, the bill was repeatedly rejected by the Virginia legislature. While Luther and the Puritans were driven by doctrinal convictions, Jefferson was motivated by his philosophical belief in meritocracy over aristocracy. He envisioned a nation ruled by those who had the opportunity to advance through hard work and education rather than by those who had been born into an aristocratic ruling class. Historical Context It was into this fledgling nation that Horace Mann was born in 1796. He grew up watching the nation grapple with its identity, not merely as a political entity but also as a moral, ethical, and religious people. In addition to building a distinct government structure, the United States was distinguishing itself from Great Britain with Noah Webster’s lexicon and with Benjamin Franklin’s practical philosophy. Jonathan Edwards’ preaching had sparked the First Great Awakening in colonial Massachusetts, laying a foundation of Puritan and Calvinist principles for the imminent nation, and currents of the Second Great Awakening were well underway. Stoked by increasing spiritual sensibilities, reform movements were set aflame and burning brighter: abolition, women’s rights, temperance, treatment of the mentally ill, and education. Northwest Ordinances Although the Constitution did not make any provision for education, a series of Northwest Ordinances made it clear that education was important to this early nation. For example, the 1785 Ordinance required townships in the Northwest Territory to be divided into quadrants of six square miles each, with Lot #16 being set aside for the purpose of public schools. The 1787 Ordinance not only prohibited slavery but also stated, “Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” So, the federal government was paving the way for the common school movement that would occur decades later and would be embraced state by state. Other Mass Education Movements Sunday school movement. Before the common school movement, there were other efforts toward mass education. One such effort was the Sunday school movement, which journalist Robert Raikes began in England in the mid-18th century as a proactive measure against childhood crime and poverty in urban centers. Raikes believed that education could help prevent crime and poverty, but because so many children worked in factories for long days Monday through Saturday, the only practical time to teach them basic literacy would be on Sundays. He recruited church volunteers to serve as teachers and scheduled the class sessions before or after worship services. The concept quickly spread to the United States, providing basic literacy and education in morality and Christian doctrine. Monitorial schools. Another effort at mass education that began in England and quickly spread to the U.S. was the monitorial system, which was also known as mutual instruction or the Lancaster Model. In monitorial schools, one teacher would introduce a particular skill to older or more advanced students who would in turn teach the skill to a group of younger or less skilled students. The model caught on quickly because it was an extremely inexpensive method to teach a large number of students. In the words of New York Governor DeWitt Clinton in 1809, When I perceive one great assembly of a thousand children, under the eye of a single teacher, marching, with unexampled rapidity and with perfect discipline, to the goal of knowledge, I confess that I recognize in Lancaster the benefactor of the human race. I consider his system as creating a new era in education, as a blessing sent down from heaven to redeem the poor and distressed of this world from the power and dominion of ignorance. Monitorial schools were eventually displaced in the United States by the Common School Movement. Common School Movement Horace Mann: Vocal Advocate Horace Mann’s metaphor for education was that of a balance wheel. He said, “Education, then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men—the balance-wheel of the social machinery.” He spoke of a utopian society in which the more schools there were, the fewer prisons we would need. Common schools would not only reduce crime and eliminate poverty, they would distinguish this new nation from its mother country by providing opportunity for social mobility from one class to another. One of the challenges that Mann faced was that—in order for his proposal to work— citizens would be required to pay for the education of other people’s children. His role was to persuade them that it would be to their benefit and to the benefit of the social order as a whole to provide free education for all. As an articulate, eloquent, popular speaker, Horace Mann was able to appeal to a common desire to reduce crime and poverty and also to assimilate immigrants, Native-Americans, and freed African-Americans into a common national identity. The metaphor that was often used for this idea was that of the melting pot. The melting pot metaphor has been problematic in many ways over time, but it was immediately problematic for the new wave of Catholic immigrants. Their perception was that American schools were so steeped in Protestantism that their Catholic heritage would melt away if they enrolled their children into these new public schools. So a system of Catholic private schools soon was established. One of Mann’s great compromises was over the role of religion in public schools. Though brought up in strict Orthodox Calvinism, Mann had converted to Unitarianism and was caught up in an internal as well as a societal conflict between the two. His answer was that a nonsectarian form of biblical teaching would be presented in the schools as a means to teach morality. This compromise satisfied most people, except for those who wanted no religion at all or those who believed that doctrinal catechisms were necessary for any meaningful teaching of religion. William McGuffey: Curriculum Writer Because the common school movement was a state-by-state issue rather than a federal issue, it was important that others take up the baton for the cause to spread nationally. William McGuffey was one of these. A Presbyterian minister and college professor, McGuffey lobbied Ohio and Virginia legislatures to adopt Mann’s model for common schools. He also authored a series of readers that sold over 120 million copies over a span of 70 years. No other textbook series before or after has held such prominence in the public schools. The McGuffey Eclectic Readers, Webster’s Blue-Backed Speller, and the Bible were the most prominent textbooks in early common schools, reflecting the moral tone of the time while also shaping it into the fabric of American society. Catherine Beecher: Women as the Teaching Force While Mann fought politically for financing and for infrastructure of the common school and while McGuffey provided a practical curriculum tool for the classroom, Catherine Beecher advocated for the teaching positions in these new common schools to be filled by women. Like McGuffey, Catherine’s father Lyman Beecher was a Presbyterian minister. Their families were friends and fellow proponents of moral education being taught in the common schools. Like Mann, the Beecher family were abolitionists who joined forces with him in the belief that education would serve as a tool eventually to bring about the abolition of slavery. Until the common school movement, most teachers had been men. So, the feminization of teaching could be credited to or blamed on Catherine Beecher, depending on one’s view. Beecher could by no means be confused with a feminist according to today’s standards. She was against women’s suffrage, thinking that involvement in politics would corrupt women. Women, she believed, were moral compasses for society and were uniquely suited as teachers and mothers. Their education, then, should prepare them to be moral leaders of children in the home and in the school. She promoted normal schools and encouraged graduates to consider acquiring teaching jobs in the developing Western Frontier where they could bring a mediating influence morally. The titles of some of her written works give insight into her views about the role of women in society: • A Treatise on Domestic Economy for the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School • Woman’s Profession as Mother and Educator, with Views in Opposition to Woman Suffrage • Housekeeper and Healthkeeper Though certainly not a groundbreaking feminist, Beecher’s impact on the common school movement was palpable. Conclusion Two months before his death, Horace Mann gave a commencement address at Antioch College in Ohio where he was serving as its president. He challenged graduates to be ashamed to die until they had won some victory for humanity. In his lifetime, Mann worked diligently toward his cause. He rode the waves of other movements that had already been underway, and he partnered with other reformers who were likeminded. Today, we see his influence in every neighborhood throughout the United States. It makes me wonder: What victory for humanity are you and I fighting to win, and what impact might we make if we were to fight as diligently toward our cause as Horace Mann did for his? Samuel J. Smith