Write up a brief (a couple paragraphs) intellectual autobiography of Horace Mann (an intellectual biography is someone’s lived experiences and their ideas).

1. The term “common school” was a term used in the 19th century to refer to what we call today, “public school.” According to Spring, what was “common” about the common school? Elaborate on each feature or characteristic of common schooling, and be sure to discuss who/what controls education (and who doesn’t) in a common school system (this will be a significant question and debate over the next couple weeks).
2. Write up a brief (a couple paragraphs) intellectual autobiography of Horace Mann (an intellectual biography is someone’s lived experiences and their ideas). Who was he? What did he do? What did he struggle and advocate for? How did he do it? What did he think education was for? Feel free to use the introduction (pp.84-85) of the chapter, “Local vs. Centralized Control” as well as Mann’s own writing (pp.89-99) as resources for his intellectual biography.
3. After you read Horace Mann’s primary source, “Selections from Report No. 12 of the Massachusetts School Board (1848),” discuss at least three purposes or goals of common schooling that Mann is arguing for. These are the reasons why Mann believes so ardently in a system of state-wide common schooling. Elaborate on each.
4. Evaluate Mann’s argument that education is “the great equalizer of the conditions of men—the balance-wheel of the social machinery.” What is he trying to say here? And do you think this is relevant today?
5. Elaborate, with textual evidence, an insight that you gained by closely reading Webster’s “On the Necessity for an American Language (1789).” What part of the text generated some deeper understanding in you about educational history in America? In your discussion, try to discuss why it was so important for Webster for Americans to have a common, uniform language.

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