Horace Mann's Arguments Against Common School Reform

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Horace Mann acknowledged many arguments made against common school reform during his tenth and twelfth annual reports to the Massachusetts Board of Education. Two of these oppositions included fear of religious division and concern of unwelcomed government involvement. In his advocacy for universal public education, Mann counteracted such disputes by insuring religion to be a private matter and government involvement to be a beneficial necessity for the common good. Resisters of common school reform accused supporters (including Mann) of introducing an “irreligious and anti-Christian” system and wanting to exclude religion from public education, while taking away religious authority and influence (Mann, 1848). Mann acknowledged these grave