The Evolution of Public Education

In America, the early 19th century was a time of overflowing optimism, of dreams of perpetual progress, moral uplift, and social betterment.
Such was the climate that engendered the common school. Open freely to every child and upheld by public funds, it was to be a lay institution under the sovereignty of the state, the archetype of the present-day American public school. Bringing the common school into being was not easy. Against it bulked the doctrine that any education that excluded religious instruction—as all state-maintained schools were legally compelled to do—was godless. Nor had there been any great recession of the contention that education was not a proper governmental function and for a state to engage therein was an intrusion into parental privilege. Still more distasteful was the fact that public schooling would occasion a rise in taxes.

Yet the common school also mustered some formidable support, and finally, in 1837, liberal Massachusetts lawmakers successfully carried through a campaign for a state board of education. Massachusetts credits its educational regeneration especially to Horace Mann, the board’s first secretary. To gather data on educational conditions in the state, Mann roved the entire commonwealth. He lectured and wrote reports, depicting his dire findings with unsparing candor.

There were outcries against him, but when Mann resigned, after 12 years, he could take pride in an extraordinary achievement. During his incumbency, school appropriations almost doubled. Teachers were awarded larger wages, and in return they rendered better service. To help them, Massachusetts established three state normal schools, the first in America. Supervision was made professional. The school year was extended. Public high schools were augmented. Finally, the common school, under the authority of the state though still beset by difficulties, slowly became the rule.