Visionary educator and social reformer, Horace Mann, is remembered on his birth anniversary today.
Great Thinkers Datebook: May 4.
Horace Mann (1796-1859), American visionary educator, social reformer, and pioneer in establishing mental institutions. He was born on May 4, in Franklin, Massachusetts. Mann is regarded as the "father of American education," the first great American advocate of public education.
Mann was elected to both the Massachusetts House and Senate, from 1827 until 1837, where he worked for passage of a new state education bill. Later, he became the secretary of the Massachusetts board of education for almost eleven years, and while at it, he established teacher-training schools, increased the salaries of teachers, along with improved teaching practices.
Horace Mann strongly believed that education should be free in a democratic society. He also opposed slavery. He became the first president of Antioch College, an institution committed to co-education and equal opportunity for all students.
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