Men are cast-iron, but children are wax...
The Common School Movement in the United States is the single most important determinant of modern education as it stands today, but to state that that is a benefit to modern American society is a step in the wrong direction. One may see the turmoil in American education is ever present as we set the course for the Common Core standards. Many of the same ideals of American education spread in the Common School Movements are still discussed and hotly debated. The politics are different and the morals have shifted slightly, but the concerns and discussions are based in the same stream of thought on both sides of the argument. For one to say that students are indoctrinated brings with it the connotation of modern society. Modern Americans think of religion, politics, and ideology when approached with the idea of indoctrination. The idea of children being indoctrinated seems inherently un-American. To indoctrinate them would take away the individual rights and liberty. At its core, the Common School began this pattern of indoctrination in the United States.
Throughout its development, American leaders in education have strenuously sought to condemn mere intellectual training. Whether it was the phrenological justifications of Horace Mann for training pupils in proper laws of health and morals or the widespread perception of a need for moral training to inculcate respect for authority and law and order, the notion of moral education has historically been a crucial factor in the American experience. The deep-felt need to control behavior and conduct by moral training was undertaken by the schools alongside the instruction of the church and the home.
-Stephen Yulsih
Helpful Sites about the Common School Movement:
Throughout its development, American leaders in education have strenuously sought to condemn mere intellectual training. Whether it was the phrenological justifications of Horace Mann for training pupils in proper laws of health and morals or the widespread perception of a need for moral training to inculcate respect for authority and law and order, the notion of moral education has historically been a crucial factor in the American experience. The deep-felt need to control behavior and conduct by moral training was undertaken by the schools alongside the instruction of the church and the home.
-Stephen Yulsih
Helpful Sites about the Common School Movement: