1. The Common School
"Without undervaluing any other human agency, it may be safely
affirmed that the Common School...may become the most effective and
benignant of all forces of civilization.”
-Horace Mann

2. Objectives
 http://youtu.be/IHYtYE8_bzU
 Define the Common School, including history,
characteristics, and function
 Discuss important historical figure Horace Mann
 Instructional Tools: Then & Now
 Compare/Contrast the Common School to schools of
today

3. History of the Common School
 Precursor to today’s public  Funded by taxes and special
elementary school fees paid by parents
 Established in the 1830’s  Compulsory attendance laws
 A system of schools proposed  Not only literacy and
by Horace Mann arithmetic, but civic
responsibility
 Proposed free, universal,
non-sectarian schooling  Children would gain
knowledge while learning
 For all children, regardless of how to be productive
religion or social class democratic citizens

4. The First Common School Building (1753-1838)

5. Horace Mann
• 1st State Secretary of
Education
• Principal advocate of the
nineteenth-century common
school movement
• Visionary in education
• Teachers need proper training
• His influence soon spread
beyond Massachusetts as
more states took up the idea
of universal schooling

6. Debate over the Common School
Arguments For Arguments Against
 Strengthen the new nation’s unity  Why should one family pay for the
education of another family’s
 Serve to “Americanize” or children
assimilate waves of foreigners
 Educating the poor should be the
 Better educated = increase in
responsibility of religious groups
workforce productivity
 Mingling of classes and races may
 Better educated = decrease in
crime and reduced poverty dilute the “American” culture and
language
 Equal education opportunities for
everyone including minorities and  What would happen to religious
children with disabilities study

7. Class Activity
 Read about the Common School in the textbook, pages
329-331
 Each group will take a few minutes and fill-out a Box T-Chart
with a few similarities and differences between the Common
School and Today’s Schools
 Each group will share what they came up with, and as a group
we will try to expand on the discussion
 Other Ideas

8. Yesterday’s Common School vs. Today’s Public School

9. Yesterday’s Instructional Tools vs. Today’s Instructional Tools

10. Similarities
 Universal Education
 Funded by taxes
 Public education provided, other choices are not
subsidized
 Local Control (District/Community Structure)
 Mostly non-sectarian, but highly debated
 Way to provide a common cultural experience
(assimilation)

11. Differences
 Expanded Curriculum today
 Technology
 One room instruction ages 4-12 (all ages grouped together)
 Prominently individual instruction, like Little House on the
Prairie
 Lack of mobility and therefore school choice in Common
School Era
 True equity in public schools is almost impossible