From Farm Fields to Classrooms: Horace Mann's War for Universal and Compulsory Education for Children

History Unplugged Podcast

History Unplugged

Society & Culture, History

4.2 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 7 June 2018

⏱️ 78 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In a remarkably short span of time, American children went from laboring on family farms to spending their days in classrooms. The change came from optimistic reformers like Horace Mann, who in the early 1800s dreamed of education, literacy, and science spreading throughout all levels of American society. But other supporters of universal education had darker motives. They feared the influx of Irish Catholic immigrants and thought they'd bring their papist ideas to the young republic. Only compulsory education could break these European children of their Catholic ways and transform them into obedient, patriotic Americans with a Protestant outlook in their worldview if not in their theology.

This episode explores the origins of compulsory education, from the Protestant Reformation (and how it was used as a weapon in the religious arms races of sixteenth-century Europe), Prussia's role as the first nation with universal schooling, how America adopted compulsory K-12 education, and whether modern-day schools are actually based on a factory from the 1800s.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The History of North America podcast is a sweeping historical saga of the United States,
0:09.3	Canada, and Mexico from their deep origins to our present epoch.
0:14.1	Join me, Mark Vinet, on this exciting, fascinating epic journey through time, focusing on the compelling,
0:20.7	wonderful, and tragic stories of North America's inhabitants, heroes, villains, leaders,
0:27.1	environment, and geography.
0:29.5	I invite you to come along for the ride!
0:59.5	I'm Mark Vinet, and I'm Mark Vinet.
1:15.3	It's the collection of all the stories throughout human history that explain how and why we got here.
1:20.7	Welcome to the History Unplugged Podcast, where we look at the forgotten, neglected,
1:25.2	strange, and even counterfactual stories that made our world what it is.
1:30.2	I'm your host, Scott Rank.
1:35.5	We take for granted that throughout the industrialized world, education is compulsory for those between
1:50.8	1st and 12th grade.
1:52.7	But we're really not that many generations removed from when education wasn't compulsory,
1:57.7	most children worked on family farms, and spent few if any days they could in the classroom.
2:03.4	Primary education up to age 18 was reserved for the wealthy, and the majority didn't learn
2:07.7	much beyond basic literacy.
2:09.5	At least in the case of the United States, this all changed when reformers, like Horace
2:14.1	Mann, who in the early 1800s dreamed of education and literacy and science, spreading
2:19.8	throughout all levels of American society started to work with politicians and other
2:23.8	social reformers to make this dream a reality.
2:26.7	Other people wanted universal education in the United States for much darker reasons.
	...

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