Horace Manns concept of the common school stressed many ideals, chief among them the need to create an institution capable of preparing students to contribute positively to the community and society as a whole. In order to achieve this lofty goal, Horace Mann advocated three main ideas. The first was a commitment to instilling Protestant virtues in the students. Secondly, Mann supported the idea that a community should be taxed to support the school in order to create a bond between the school and the community. Finally, Mann believed in training men and women who would be committed only to the profession of teaching Americas youth. Many of Manns ideas regarding education took hold in America, and even today there is evidence of the influence of Horace Manns ideology in our school system. This essay will examine Manns main points and critique how effective they were then and whether or not they would work in todays society.Manns first main belief, that education should come with an intense devotion to Protestant principles, was probably the most controversial of all his ideas. Although it went against the idea of the separation of the church and the state, at the time that Mann proposed it, it wasnt necessarily a bad idea. Certainly, most could agree that teaching good virtues to children in order to create responsible members of society was an admirable goal. In addition, the vast majority of America was Protestant at the time, and thus the idea of a commitment to common education which integrated Protestant virtues would be accepted much easier than without the endorsement of the church. Judging by these factors alone, Manns theory would seem to be sound. However, even in Manns time there were a few problems with this idea. Opposition came from those against the separation of church and state, and from the growing catholic community. In fact, many catholic churches formed their own private schools in reaction to Manns p...
