Mann, Horace

Mann, Horace (măn), 1796–1859, American educator, b. Franklin, Mass. He received a sparse preliminary schooling, but succeeded in entering Brown in the sophomore class and graduated with honors in 1819. He studied law, was admitted (1823) to the Massachusetts bar, and practiced in Dedham, Mass., and in Boston. He entered the state legislature in 1827, became speaker of the senate (1835), and was made secretary of the newly created (1837) state board of education at a time when the public school system was in very bad condition. Within his 12-year period of service, public interest was aroused, a movement for better teaching and better-paid teachers was instigated, school problems and statistics were brought to light and discussed, training schools for teachers were established, and schoolhouses and equipment were immeasurably improved. In 1843, Mann studied educational conditions abroad, and in 1848 he was elected to Congress as an antislavery Whig. He ran unsuccessfully for governor of Massachusetts in 1852. In 1853 he became the first president of Antioch College, where he also taught philosophy and theology. He died there, having achieved considerable success in demonstrating the practicality of coeducation and in raising the academic standards of the college. His second wife was Mary T. Peabody, sister of Elizabeth Peabody.

Bibliography

See M. T. P. Mann et al., ed., The Life and Works of Horace Mann (5 vol., 1891); biographies by J. Messerli (1972) and R. B. Downs (1974); B. A. Hinsdale, Horace Mann and the Common School Revival in the United States (1937); Selective and Critical Bibliography of Horace Mann (comp. by the Federal Writers' Project of Massachusetts, 1937).

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Mann, Horace

Horace Mann

(credit: Courtesy of Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio)

(born May 4, 1796, Franklin, Mass., U.S.—died Aug. 2, 1859, Yellow Springs, Ohio) U.S. educator, the first great American advocate of public education. Raised in poverty, Mann educated himself at the Franklin, Mass., town library and gained admission to Brown University. He later studied law and was elected to the state legislature. As state secretary of education he vigorously espoused educational reform, arguing that in a democratic society education should be free and universal, nonsectarian, and reliant on well-trained, professional teachers. In his later years he served in the U.S. Congress (1848–53) and as first president of Antioch College, (1853–59) and he worked resolutely to end slavery.

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Mann, Horace (1796–1859) educator, public official; born in Franklin, Mass. He overcame limited educational opportunities, attended Brown University, and practiced law in Dedham and Boston, Mass. (1821–37). As Massachusetts state representative, senator, and senate president (1827–37), he worked to establish the first state hospital for the mentally ill and a state board of education. As head of the new board, his 12 annual reports (1837–48) comprehensively established the basis for universal, nonsectarian public education. Using his legal skills, he established public high schools, built teacher-training schools, curbed child labor, gained acceptance for women teachers, and fended off opposition from religious and business interests. After serving in the U.S. Congress (Whig, Mass.; 1848–53), he became president of Antioch College (1853–89), which was nonsectarian and open without regard to sex or race. The public school system he established in Massachusetts served as the nation's model, hence his appellation, "the father of American public education."