Education – Primary and Secondary.
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Even though America had the highest literacy rate in the world in the early 1800's, the country had no statewide system of free, public elementary schools. In the Antebellum Period, only two states, Massachusetts and Vermont, had compulsory school attendance laws. The educational policy in the States was not uniform and chaotic. The schools were not divided by grade, which meant that older students were in the same class rooms with the younger students. Very few children continued schooling after the age of ten. Due to this confusion and lack of continuous education, leaders began to develop educational reforms. .
Horace Mann of Massachusetts was the most prominent leader calling for educational reforms. He argued that public education would foster equal opportunity and social stability. Horace Mann also believed that children were like clay in the hands of teachers and public officials – stating that they should be molded into a state of perfection. When the state of Massachusetts created the Massachusetts Board of Education, Horace Mann served as its secretary. He promoted improvements to schools, the expanding of the public curriculum, while improving teacher training and raising their salaries. While secretary, Mann was able to double the amount of money that the state of Massachusetts spent on schools. He began the movement in public education that would become known as the "Common School Movement", which pushed for a tax-funded, secular public school system. Due to Mann, Massachusetts was and is the leading state of public educational reform. Mary Lyons, another Education Reformer, established Mt. Holyoke as the first college for women. She was a schoolteacher who knew that women and men were equal intellectually and made it her goal to prove that to the world. By opening Mt. Holyoke, she became a role model for women everywhere and enabled more women to become influential teachers in the lives of Americans nationally.
