Common school

A common school was a public school in the United States during the 19th century. Horace Mann (1796–1859) was a strong advocate for public education and the common school. In 1837, the state of Massachusetts appointed Mann as the first secretary of the State Board of Education where he began a revival of common school education, the effects of which extended throughout America during the 19th century. Early development Common schools originated in New England as community-funded instruments of education for all children of the region or neighborhood. These secondary schools furthered the Puritan conformity of the region by institutionalizing religion into the curriculum for the purpose of instilling good morals and obedience in the populace. The 17th-century Puritan relied upon Christian organizations, such as the Anglican Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, for catechisms as the first grammar books. In most cases, local church clergy took responsibility for education in their communities. With support from the community and wealthy philanthropists, clergy determined the curriculum, material, and teachers for common schools throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. The religious sensibility of New England education was further augmented by the First Great Awakening. Rev. Cotton Mather (1663-1728) stated that the schools had been instruments for maintaining the pre-eminence of the godly. Reflecting this sentiment, in 1742, neighboring Connecticut enacted a law restricting New Light schools during the First Great Awakening. The law declared "the erecting of any other schools, which are not under the establishment and inspection aforesaid, may tend to train up youth in ill principles, and practices, and introduce such disorders as may be of fatal consequence to the public peace and weal of this Colony." 19th-century reform