This document provides biographical information on three seminal thinkers who affected American education: Horace Mann, Mohandas Gandhi, and John Goodlad. It describes Mann's work establishing the first public school system in Massachusetts in the 1830s and his belief that education should be accessible to all. For Gandhi, it mentions his education in England and time in Africa, and notes he distinguished between primary and basic education. For Goodlad, it provides his general information and influences but does not give specifics about his accomplishments. The document requests feedback on what to discuss in more depth for the next presentation.

1. CUIN 8303: Seminal Thinkers
Affecting American Education
Bringing the People Together Under the
Banner of Education
Horace Mann (1776-1859)
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948)
John Goodlad (1920-Present)
Nick Accrocco, Lauro Davalos, Stephen MacLauchlan

2. Horace Mann
• May 4, 1776-August 2, 1859
• Studied at Brown University and
Litchfield Law School
• Father of Three Children
• Brother-in-Law to Nathaniel
Hawthorne
• Known as “Father of the Common
School Movement”

3. Horace Mann
• Elected to Massachusetts House of
Representatives and later Senate
where he served as President and
Majority Leader
• First ever Secretary of Education for
Massachusetts
• Two terms in the United States House
of Representatives filling the late John
Quincy Adams’s seat
• President of Antioch College (now
Antioch University) in Yellow Springs,
Ohio

4. Life Experience
• Poor agricultural family, very modest means
growing up
• Created a need for Mann to help himself have
better opportunities
• Early education consisted of just eight to ten weeks
of formal schooling and the local library
• Enrolled at Brown University at age 20, graduated as
valedictorian
• Elected to Massachusetts House of Representatives
at age 29; represented Dedham, later Boston

5. Life Experience
• Elected to Massachusetts State Senate from Boston,
served as majority leader
• United States still a new nation: Senate focused on
building infrastructure
• New England already had a culture from earliest
colonial days of informal public education
• 1837: Creation of the Massachusetts Board of
Education, the first “Board” in the nation, Mann was
appointed Secretary

6. Key Political Questions for a New
Nation and New Government
• American Government & Democracy was untested
• How should education be organized and by whom?
• Should America emulate the European models?
• Why educate the public and what do we teach?
• Massachusetts has a lot of influence in the
nineteenth century United States
• Issue of states rights and concern about growing
governmental influence in the business of the states.
Education would further impact community values
and religion

7. Mann’s Opinions
• As a statesmen first, believed that education was
vital to raising active, intelligent citizens
• Education should be accessible to all regardless of
background or socioeconomic status
• Educational instructions and facilities should be of
high quality
• Education should remain secular
• Curriculum should be focused on the practical as
opposed to the artistic

8. Mann’s Approach

9. Work as Massachusetts
Secretary of Education
• Became something of a national figurehead for the
office and education
• Worked tirelessly to improve education in the state:
teacher’s conventions, lectures, new legislation
• Mann traveled across the state to inspect every
school personally

10. Antioch College

11. Mohandas Gandhi
• General Info

12. Education in England
•

13. Time in Africa
•

14. Primary vs. Basic
Education
•

15. Who Should Be
Educated?
•

16. John Goodlad
• General Info

17. Biography and Influences
• General Info

18. Accomplishments
•

19. Contributing Philosophy

20. Criticism of No Child Left
Behind Act

21. Further Discussions
• For our next presentation, would you
like us to discuss?
o What they had in common?
o Where they differ?
o What do contemporaries have to
say about their ideas?
o Anything else you think we should
explore?

22. Bibliography: