Thursday Thought for the Day

Horace Mann (1796-1859) is widely acknowledged as the father of public education in the United States. His conception of how schools fit into the construction of an informed, democratic citizenry remains a core principle of education even if we don't always recognize it in current debates about education. This is a nice summary of his position:

"Now surely nothing but universal education can
counterwork the tendency to the domination of
capital and the servility of labor. If one class
possesses all the wealth and the education,
while the residue of society is ignorant and
poor, it matters not by what name the relation
between them may be called: the latter in fact
and in truth, will be the servants, dependents
and subjects of the former. But, if education be
equally diffused, it will draw property after it
and be the strongest of all attractions; for such a
thing never did happen, as that an intelligent and
practical body of men should be permanently poor."