Argumentative Essay On Equal Education For All

This paper discusses the influence of Horace Mann on the issue of education of the masses, evident in his dedication to improving the quality of education through the process of improving teacher education, increasing available funding, and standardizing the quality of educational experience provided to its students. It addresses specifically the areas presented in several of Mann’s Annual Reports published during his tenure including the areas of school buildings, moral values, school discipline, and the quality of teachers.

Horace Mann, known as the "father of American public education", wrote the policy document Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education, that claims Massachusetts's school education is becoming unequal among the citizens. Mann develops his argument by using European and American values of men, and how society functions with men that have been treated as equals. Mann's purpose was to discuss the problems in Massachusetts's education system in order to inform his audience and persuade a change. Mann's audience assumes an audience that would be government workers or officials because of his message of changing the education system.

In the "Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education," by Horace Mann, he expresses his belief in the power of "universal education" to counteract the "tendency to the domination of capital and servility of labor” (Mann 158). If society is split between those who are "ignorant and poor" and those who hold "all the wealth and the education," then the latter is powerful and the former are both powerless and hopeless. Education must be made available to all he believes since it is "beyond all other devices of human origin is the great equalizer of the conditions of men,-the balance-wheel of the social machinery" (Mann 159). As a result, access to education "will open a wider area over which the social feelings will expand; and if this education

Thomas Jefferson and Horace Mann had a large influence into our educational foundation. They fought for and persuaded many people into believing education was needed for all citizens. They also believed in separation of church and state. In this paper I will summarize each individuals influence on education as well as separation of church and state.

Mann was educated in a one room school house that was often in need of repair because it lacked the funding necessary for physical maintenance in which led to less funding for academic resources. Schooling in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century was often irregularly managed and unorganized. However, Mann was not only intelligent but he was a determined individual who focused to teach himself the content and skills needed to pursue higher education. It was this impoverished background that would serve as a framework for Mann’s work and beliefs. It would be his own experiences during his upbringing that would fuel and motivate his dedication to improve public

     Will Durant, a businessman and the founder of General Motors, once said, “Education is the transmission of civilization.” Unfortunately, education is still one of the most deliberated and controversial issues in the United States. Thus far, the privilege or right to receive education has not attained the level of equality throughout the nation; poor districts obtain less educational funding while rich districts obtain more, creating an immense gap between the quality of schools in poor and rich areas.

Horace Mann was one of the most influential reformers in the history of American education. He was responsible for the Common School Movement, which was to ensure that every child receive free basic education funded by local taxes. Growing up in poverty where there was lack of access to education, the first secretary of Massachusetts Board of Education strongly believed that tuition- free education would be the “great equalizer,” and the key to fight against poverty and crime. As a result, Massachusetts’ residents were the

In the farming society of the early 1800’s, education was not possible for many children. Horace Mann, a farm boy himself and an early advocate for educational reform, saw the deficiencies in the educational system. He pushed for “common schools” that would retain local control, be co-educational and revolve around the agricultural year. Mann’s ideas began to be adopted around the country in the second half of the nineteenth century. By the start of the twentieth century, mandatory public schooling was the norm. This was the height of the industrial revolution. As Davidson notes in “Project Classroom Makeover”, “Public Education was seen as the most efficient way to train potential workers for labor in the newly urbanized factories (197).” Schools began to work like an assembly line with a focus on efficiency, attention to detail, memorization of facts and staying on task. Curriculum became standardized and states began to replace the local management of education. Critically thinking outside the box was less valued. Regardless of ability, children started school at the same age and were moved through their education in a regulated process.

Horace Mann improved the educational system in many ways by expressing his views in his essay “From the Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education, 1848.” Mann brings up many points in which that are important to improve education, such as political education and physical education. He states

Horace Mann was an early 18th century politician and a visionary in the area of education reform. He is credited as the person responsible promoting the belief that education not only be free, but should be available to all. Horace Mann’s concept for equality in education ensures “that everyone receives an education that will allow them to compete for wealth on equal terms.” (Spring, 2014 p. 58.)

During Mann’s twelve years as secretary of the Massachusetts board of education he sent back reports to the board as to the condition of schools and what he thought should be taught in them. His ideas in these reports revolved around six ideas: “(1) that a republic cannot long remain ignorant and free, hence the necessity of universal education; (2) that such education must be paid for, controlled, and sustained by an interested public; (3) that such education is best provided in schools embracing children of all religious, social, and ethnic backgrounds; (4) that such education, while profoundly moral in character, must be free of sectarian religious influence; (5) that such education must be permeated throughout by the spirit, methods, and discipline of a free society, which preclude pedagogy in the classroom; and (6) that such education can be provided only by well-trained, professional

Furthermore, in 1846, Horace Mann, a Whig politician and education reformist asserted that a superior and universal law had dictated every human being, regardless of race or gender, deserved access to education and that it was the obligation of government to provide this (Doc 3). Horace Mann, regarded as the most devoted education reformist and a respected Whig, could or did not pass any national legislation to spread universal education. Additionally, during the Antebellum era, there were 2 whig presidents, Harrison and Taylor, and Whigs dominated both congressional houses during their presidencies; so education reform should have passed easily. In reality, Mann’s narrative of universal education for the purposes of creating “a culture of virtuous principles” was not fulfilled during the Antebellum era. Apparently, many reformists believed more in promoting a virtuous image of the U.S. than in pursuing laws to cement reforms. In 1841 Ralph Waldo Emerson lectured a Library association of Mechanic’s apprentices that “What is a man born for but to be a Reformer… a renouncer of lies; a restorer of truth and good, imitating that great Nature...” (Doc 2). Emerson, a 2nd Great Awakening lecturer emphasizes the goodness that results from reforms, a minor distinction from democratic ideals. Emerson does not mention equality or freedom as suitable motivations for reformists, rather, he emphasized reforming because it makes the reformer appear virtuous. As a prominent speaker, Emerson convinces that the primary concern of the apprentices in his audience is their self image, not spreading suffrage, liberty or equality

Whereas, certain disputes exist concerning G’onna Jones’ educational program while a student in the District, which claims are described in the case styled G’onna J. b/n/f Nikki Anne R. v. Beaumont Independent School District, 077-SE-1115 (“Claim”);

Many believe that the greatest source for a nations strength is to provide equal education for all of its students. However, are we as educators short-changing our female students? I believe the answer to this question is an undeniable, Yes! There are different ways and methods to change this problem in our society; hence we must first examine the source of the corruption.

Education is a elemental human right and essential for all other human rights. It is a powerful tool by which socially and economically marginalized children and adults can lift themselves out of poverty. It also consists of the right to freedom of education. Freedom of education is the right given to human beings to have access to the education of their preference without any constrictions. Right to education is a human right recognized by the United Nations. It includes the entire compulsion to eliminate inequity at all levels of the educational system.