The History of US Education: Horace Mann and the Prussian Model

Previously published on "This Is The Awful Truth".

Horace Mann And The Prussian Model

Horace Mann was notably nicknamed 'The Father Of American Education'.

Feel free to check out his Wikipedia entry Here.

His impressive story begins with humble beginnings as the son of a poor farmer, mostly relying on self-education at the library during his formative years. At age 23, he graduated valedictorian at Brown University and the theme of his oration was 'The Progressive Character Of The Human Race'. He went on to study a small amount of law, then to teach Latin and Greek and later became a librarian himself, eventually passing the bar. In his early 30's he was elected to the legislature which had him involved heavily in, among other things, education and public charities. Later as a Senator, and majority leader to boot, his chief focus was on infrastructure, which led to the development of canal and railroad systems in his state. Shortly after, in 1837, he became the Secretary of the new Massachusetts board of education, which was also the first such position in the US. At first blush, it would appear that everything since the age of 10 was merely a prelude to this last appointment, and not accidentally.

Upon his appointment, he ejected himself from all other political and professional interests to focus solely on the business and details of public education. The six main principles he adopted in his appointment were this:

1. The public should no longer remain ignorant.
2. Such education should be paid for, controlled and sustained by an interested public.
3. This education will be best provided in schools that embrace children from various backgrounds.
4. This education must be non-sectarian.
5. This education must be taught by the spirit, methods and discipline of a free society.
6. This education will be provided by well-trained and professional teachers. 

The foundations of his work began with professional uniformity and standards for teachers, establishing the Normal School For Teachers in 1839. Teachers wages were subsequently doubled, and teacher supervision was improved through school committees.

State aid for education also doubled, which resulted in 'free' libraries in school districts, 50 new secondary schools and improvement to textbooks and educational equipment.

He pursued his obligations and duties throughout his career diligently, by actively visiting and examining each school in person , discontinuing the use of corporal punishment in schools, holding teacher conventions, giving addresses and lectures personally, delivering annual reports as well as editing the Common School Journal which he had founded in 1838, comprehensive correspondence to rival any present day social media platform, and wound up bringing forth a full series of reforms informed and influenced by all the various positions and interests he had held over a lifetime. Which brings us to his visit to Europe in 1843 and the resulting annual report that brought about the 1852 adoption of the Prussian system of education in Massachusetts, which New York followed immediately with a trial and the rest of the country followed not too long after.

Clearly, Mann had a number of ideas for how to administrate a public education from the Prussian system long before his visit to Europe. This would suggest most likely, that in at least one of his trips to the library in his younger days, or maybe in his role as a librarian, that he had come across a report given in 1812 by another American educator, John Griscom, who happened to be the first chemistry teacher in the US, extolling the virtues of the Prussian system. Clearly, that visit to Europe took what Mann already believed and not only reinforced it, but emboldened it and enhanced it immeasurably.

To understand how Mann's guidance was altered by his visit to Europe, we're going to have to step back slightly earlier to Napoleon's defeat of the Prussians in 1806 and the resultant book 'Addresses to The German Nation' by philosopher Johann Fichte. Fichte very handily summed up the Prussian defeat down to one cause at the heart of many ills: the system of education had failed. The summary of Fichte's understanding of the defeat of Prussia was that at one time the Germans were a great people possessed of a spirit of piety, of honor, of modesty and of a sense of community, and the greatness was done in by the Enlightenment, from which self-seeking was derived, and self-seeking was the underlying cause of all other corruption. Hence this ability toward rationale undermined religion and its moral force, and as a consequence, the government became liberal and morally lax, leaving the neglect of duty to go unpunished, which subsequently led to their defeat at the hands of Napoleon.

You may read a partial summary of Addresses to The German Nation in regards to education Here.
Or you may experience the full English text, with introduction, archived Here.

From this, Fichte's idea of salvation was as follows:

• To mold the Germans into a corporate body, unified by the same interest.
• All distinctions of classes will be removed and vanished.
• The free will of the student will be recognized as the first mistake.
• Pupils should be separated entirely from the community, left under the sole influence of education.
• Obedience is an essential feature, and since it is not expected to be self imposed, it will be administered strictly by the educators.
• The law must maintain a level of severity and prohibit many things, based on fear of immediate punishment, to be administered without indulgence or exception.
• The able student is obligated to help the needy student, without expectation of reward, not even praise.
• The elimination of self interest will result in the pure love of duty for its own sake.
• Success will bring forth a student that is a fixed and unchangeable machine.
• The student will only find life, light and happiness in immediate contact with God, otherwise they will only know death, darkness and misery.

With the exception of the monotorial system, it appears that nothing proposed by Fichte was discarded or unnoticed by Mann in developing his reforms of public education, as made clear by some of the changes that occurred after his return from Europe.

• Compulsory attendance was made law in Massachusetts in 1852. By 1912 this law was enforced in every state.
• Age Grading was introduced, eliminating variances in age in classrooms, as well as the monotorial system where able students helped the teacher reach less able students by working with them, and grouping students together based solely on age, ignoring ability and aptitude.
• The lost monotorial system was replaced with a lecture system making the students more passive receivers than active participants in their own educations.
• Graduation ceremonies, based on college ceremonies were introduced to promote attendance to secondary schools.
• One of Mann's newly stated principles was to turn the nation's unruly children into disciplined and judicious Republican citizens.
• Another newly stated principle was to equalize the conditions of men and advance them socially, as well as instill character and values not being gotten in the home. These values included obedience to authority, promptness in attendance, and organizing their time through bell ringing, to purposely prepare them for the workforce, or equal in measure, in the service of the military.
• Publicly stating at once that public schools are not seminaries for those that wanted more secular, religious passivity in the schools, Mann also staved off religious authorities insisting that all Christian values were inculcated, or instilled vigorously, by the education process. This resulted in a near universal use of the Bible in public schools, which again, are not seminaries. 

This leaves us, so far as this perception allows, with the Prussian model as used by America to this day:

• The purpose of education is a student's service to the community, the state, and God.
• The student best serves themself by forgoing individuality, relinquishing free will, ignoring equally where they are skilled or deficient so long as the unit they belong to moves forward as a whole, holding obedience as a chief aim, being fearful always of the law, and becoming machine-like. The desired goal being becoming an obedient worker or soldier, in service to the community, the state and God.
• The instructor best serves by instilling the qualities that best serve the student, strictly enforcing the rules by punishing deviance or disobedience, and shaping the students as similarly as possible, according to the wishes of the particular administration they belong to.
• The administration  best serves by directing the instructors as to results most popularly desired by the community.
• The community best serves by following the interests of the state, as proposed by the public opinions of politicians and media, both sponsored by individual financial  interests, who generally claim their particular form of advertising to be for the public good. 

In short, a top down model of shaping children into adults who serve the authorities that are, by design and in purpose, supposed to be serving them. Even shorter: indoctrination. We can argue that indoctrination has its benefits and positive outcomes, such as what Prussia was trying to prevent ever happening again through their education overhaul of Fichte's salvation. What cannot be denied however is that indoctrination hinges upon weakening a person's thinking for it to operate fully, and that has no place in something that is supposed to be considered education.

Reconsider any and all times you've thought the education system had failed in the past, and ask yourself instead whether or not it was operating as designed.