His chief means of people and improving education were his campaigns through the state, His Labors in Reforming Education During the next twelve years, as secretary of the arousing the State Board, Horace Mann subserved the interests of his accepted client most faithfully. Educational ideals were in sad need of expansion and democratization, and school organization, curricula, and methods called for enlargement and a complete modernization. To awaken the people, the new secretary at once started upon an educational campaign through the state, and during each year of his tenure he made an annual circuit for this purpose. At first the reception given him was cold and spiritless; often after a hard journey he found but a handful of an audience, and upon one occasion he had even to sweep out the room himself and put it in order.1 Keenly as he felt this want of appreciation, nothing could daunt him, and these annual visits gradually grew in interest and enthusiasm, and eventually he came to meet almost with ovations. Besides the regular trips, Mann held himself subject to calls from everywhere, within the state and out, for educational meetings, lectures, and addresses; and when, after seven years, teachers' institutes were introduced into 1 It was at Pittsfield that he found this lack of preparation, and Governor Briggs assisted him in his janitorial duties. After a meeting in Northampton he declared: "I have found so large a mountain, there is danger that I shall break my own neck in trying to lift it." Massachusetts, he constantly served as an efficient lecturer and instructor. An even more effective means of disseminating Mann's reforms was found in the series of Annual Reports which he issued from the first, and in the publication of his Common School Journal, begun in the second year of his administration. The Reports were by law to give information concerning existing conditions and the progress made in the efficiency of public education each year, and to discuss the most approved organization, content, and methods for the common schools, in order to create and guide public opinion most intelligently. The material in these documents fills one thousand pages of Mann's collected Works. It exhibits the great benefits to the state and the individual of a public school training. While practically every educational topic of importance at the time is dealt with, his suggestions as a whole maintain a definite point of view and a connected body of practical doctrine. Sometimes they seem commonplace, but it must be remembered that they were not so then, and that the work of Mann did much to render them familiar. The last report contains a summary of what he had endeavored to accomplish and shows how all his criticism of the schools had been undertaken as a conscientious duty and with a full realization of what the consequences to himself would be. The Reports were frequently written his Annual Reports to the State Board, his semimonthly Common School Journal, hastily and are sometimes poorly arranged, illogical, and exaggerated; but the style was always forceful and animated, and often fervid and eloquent. They are the most important and enduring of his writings, and will ever be regarded as educational classics. While addressed to the State Board, they were really intended for the citizens of Massachusetts in general, and their influence was felt far beyond the confines of the state. They vitally affected school conditions everywhere in New England, and were read with great interest in all parts of the United States, and even in Europe. An issue of eighteen thousand copies of one report was made for free distribution by act of the New York legislature, another was reprinted in Great Britain, and Germany translated and distributed editions of several. The Common School Journal, on the other hand, was issued semi-monthly and consisted of sixteen pages to each number. It was devoted to spreading information concerning school improvement, school law, and the proceedings of the State Board, and it urged upon school officials, parents, and children their duties toward health, morals, and intelligence. This publication, which was continued by Mann during the whole of his administration, laid him under the necessity of much writing himself and of securing contributions from other educators. A medium somewhat akin to Mann's publications in the improvement of educational facilities was his general agement libraries, establishment of school libraries throughout Massa- his encour chusetts. This the reformer brought to pass in a large of school number of towns and school districts through a subsidy from the state. The first impulse was given these institutions in 1838; and while the enthusiasm for their creation and use lasted only five years, they were productive of an immense amount of good in creating a taste for proper reading and in democratizing education. tablishment But probably the most permanent means of stimulating the revival and propagating the reforms led by Horace Mann was the foundation by Massachusetts of and his esthe first public1 normal schools in this country. A of the first devoted friend of Mann 2 offered to donate ten thou- three state sand dollars for this purpose, in case the state would schools. supply a like amount. This generous proposal was accepted by the legislature in 1838. It was decided to found three schools, so located that all parts of the 1 James G. Carter established a short-lived normal institution in 1821 at Lancaster, Massachusetts, and the Rev. Samuel R. Hall conducted schools of this character in Vermont at Concord (1823-1830), Andover (18301837), and Plymouth (1837-1840); but the normals founded through Mann were the first under state auspices. See Dexter, History of Education in the United States, pp. 373 ff. 2 Edmund Dwight, the member of the Board who had been most instrumental in bringing about the selection of Mann, and afterward assisted the work of the Board by gifts on several occasions and by supplements to Mann's salary, made this offer anonymously. S normal He lavished time and strength upon his work with totally inadequate compensa tion. state might be equally served.1 Although the name 'normal' was borrowed from France, the curriculum and methods of these institutions were largely influenced by those prevailing in the 'seminaries' for teachers in Prussia. The course consisted in a review of the common branches from the teaching point of view, work in educational theory, and training in a practice school under supervision. Despite the hostility of conservatives, incompetent teachers, and sectarian ́dogmatists everywhere in the state, the schools, while not largely attended, were a great success from the start, and have been of immense service in raising the standard of teaching in Massachusetts and through New England.3 The arduous and unremitting labors of Mann in instituting and promoting the various means of school reform must have made the greatest inroad upon his time and strength. His correspondence alone, in a day before the general use of stenography, typewriting, or even fountain pens, is estimated to have averaged thirty or forty letters a day. It is known that during his 1 One school was to be in the northeast, another in the southeast, and the third in the less populated west. The first, located at Lexington, was afterward removed, first to West Newton, and then to Framingham; the second, started at Barre, was later taken to Westfield; but the third has always been situated at Bridgewater. 2 See Graves, History of Education during the Transition, pp. 304 f. 3 Much of the success and influence of the schools was due to the happy selection of the Rev. Cyrus Pierce for the first principalship. |