"Americans today count on their public schools to be free of expense, open to all, and devoid of religious sectarianism....Free schools open to all children did not exist in colonial America. Yet, something like modern American public schools developed in the 1840s, when a majority of voters in the northern regions of the United States decided that it would be wise to create state-mandated and locally controlled free schools...It was called 'the Common School Movement.'"
In order to build background knowledge on the Common School Era, you will explore the following five questions:
- What was the pedagogical emphasis of the Common School Era?
- What was the role of feminization of teaching during the Common School Era?
- What moral values existed during the Common School Era?
- What global events influenced the Common School Movement?
- What was Horace Mann’s role in the educational reform of 1820-1860?