专八人文知识需知的美国名人--霍瑞思.曼

专八人文知识需知的美国名人--霍瑞思.曼

　　英语专八人文知识涵盖的知识面较广，考生们需要平时多积累小常识，这样在专八考试中才能游刃有余，新东方在线整理了专八人文知识需知的美国名人系列知识点供考生们参考。

　　霍瑞思·曼是美国教育家与政治家。曾于布朗大学学习。毕业后学习法学，并被选人州立法机构。任州教育部长时积极支持教育改革，认为在民主社会中，教育应该免费、普及、不实行区别性待遇的政策并采用训练有素的职业教师。 霍瑞思·曼认为公共教育是传授儿童责任感与道德的最佳方法。他积极促进公共学校的发展，并获得了部分支持社会改革的人们，特别是辉格党，的支持。霍瑞思·曼对于师范学校的重视更是引起了许多州的州政府的关注。因为他对于美国公立学校发展的先驱性的贡献，他被许多历史学家誉为“美国公共教育之父”。

　　Horace Mann (May 4, 1796 – August 2, 1859) was an American education reformer, and amember of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1827 to 1833. He served in theMassachusetts Senate from 1834-1837. In 1848, after serving as Secretary of the MassachusettsState Board of Education since its creation, he was elected to the US House of Representatives.Mann was a brother-in-law to author Nathaniel Hawthorne.

　　Education

　　Horace Mann was born on May 4, 1796, in Franklin, Massachusetts. His father was a farmer inlimited circumstances, and the son was forced to procure by his own exertions the means ofobtaining an education. He earned his school books when a child by braiding straw, and his severeand frugal life taught him habits of self-reliance and independence. From ten years of age to twentyhe had never more than six weeks' schooling during any year. He made use of the town library,founded by Benjamin Franklin. At the age of 20 he enrolled at Brown University, and graduatedafter three years as valedictorian of his class in 1819. The theme of his oration was “TheProgressive Character of the Human Race.” He then studied law for a short time at Wrentham,Massachusetts; was a tutor of Latin and Greek (1820–1822) and a librarian (1821–1823) at BrownUniversity. He also studied during 1821–1823 at Litchfield Law School (the law school conductedby Judge Tapping Reeve in Litchfield, Connecticut), and in 1823, was admitted to the bar inNorfolk, Massachusetts.

　　Massachusetts legislature

　　Mann was elected to the legislature in 1827, and in that body was active in the interests ofeducation, public charities, and laws for the suppression of intemperance and lotteries. Heestablished through his personal exertions the state lunatic asylum at Worcester, and in 1833 waschairman of its board of trustees. He continued to be returned to the legislature as representativefrom Dedham until his removal to Boston in 1833. While in the legislature he was a member andpart of the time chairman of the committee for the revision of the state statutes, and a largenumber of salutary provisions were incorporated into the code at his suggestion. After theirenactment he was appointed one of the editors of the work, and prepared its marginal notes andits references to judicial decisions. He was elected to the Massachusetts State Senate from Bostonin 1833, and was its president in 1836–1837. As a member of the Senate, he spent time as themajority leader, and aimed his focus at infrastructure, funding the construction of railroads andcanals.

　　Education reform

　　It was not until he was appointed secretary (1837) of the newly created board of education ofMassachusetts (the first such position in the United States) that he began the work which was toplace him in the foremost rank of American educationists. Surprisingly, at the time, he had nospecial interest in education. He was only encouraged to take the job because it was a paid officeposition established by the legislature. He began as secretary of the board. On entering on hisduties, he withdrew from all other professional or business engagements and from politics. This ledhim to become the most prominent national spokesman for that position. He held this position, andworked with a remarkable intensity, holding teachers' conventions, delivering numerous lecturesand addresses, carrying on an extensive correspondence, and introducing numerous reforms.Mann traveled to every school in the state so he could physically examine each school ground. Heplanned and inaugurated the Massachusetts normal school system in Lexington (which shortlythereafter move to Framingham) and Bridgewater, and began preparing a series of annual reports,which had a wide circulation and were considered as being "among the best expositions, if, indeed,they are not the very best ones, of the practical benefits of a common school education both tothe individual and to the state". By his advocacy of the disuse of corporal punishment in schooldiscipline, he was involved in a controversy with some of the Boston teachers that resulted in theadoption of his views.In 1838, he founded and edited The Common School Journal. In this journal,Mann targeted the public school and its problems. His six main principles were: (1) the public shouldno longer remain ignorant; (2) that such education should be paid for, controlled, and sustainedby an interested public; (3) that this education will be best provided in schools that embracechildren from a variety of backgrounds; (4) that this education must be non-sectarian ; (5) thatthis education must be taught by the spirit, methods, and discipline of a free society; and (6) thateducation should be provided by well-trained, professional teachers. Mann worked for more andbetter equipped school houses, longer school years (until 16 years old), higher pay for teachers,and a wider curriculum.

　　Under the auspices of the board, but at his own expense, he went to Europe in 1843 to visitschools, especially in Germany, and his seventh annual report, published after his return, embodiedthe results of his tour. Many editions of this report were printed, not only in Massachusetts, but inother states, in some cases by private individuals and in others by legislatures, and several editionswere issued in England. In 1852, he supported the decision to adopt the Prussian educationsystem in Massachusetts. Shortly after Massachusetts adopted the Prussian system, the Governorof New York set up the same method in twelve different New York schools on a trial basis.Thepractical result of Mann's work was a revolution in the approach used in the common schoolsystem of Massachusetts, which in turn influenced the direction of other states. In carrying out hiswork, Mann met with bitter opposition by some Boston schoolmasters who strongly disapprovedof his innovative pedagogical ideas, and by various religious sectarians, who contended against theexclusion of all sectarian instruction from the schools. He is often considered "the father ofAmerican public education"

　　Leadership of Antioch College and last years

　　In September 1852, he was nominated for governor of Massachusetts by the Free Soil Party, andthe same day was chosen president of the newly established Antioch College at Yellow Springs,Ohio. Failing in the election for governor, he accepted the presidency of the college, in which hecontinued until his death. There he taught political economy, intellectual and moral philosophy, andnatural theology earning the love of his students and by his many addresses exerted a beneficialinfluence upon education in the Midwest. Horace Mann also employed the first female facultymember to be paid on an equal basis with her male colleagues, Rebecca Pennell, his niece. Hiscommencement message to the class of 1859 to "be ashamed to die until you have won somevictory for humanity" is repeated to the graduating class at each commencement.Antioch Collegewas founded by the Christian Connexion which later withdrew its financial support causing thecollege to struggle for many years with meager financial resources due to sectarian infighting. Mannhimself was charged with nonadherence to sectarianism because, previously a Calvinist byupbringing, he joined the Unitarian Church.He is buried in the North Burial Ground in Providence,Rhode Island, next to his first wife, Charlotte Messer Mann. (Charlotte Messer Mann was thedaughter of Asa Messer, an early president of Brown University.)

　　Legacy

　　Horace Mann's statue stands in front of the Massachusetts State House along with that of DanielWebster.Antioch College continues to operate in accordance with the egalitarian and humanitarianvalues of Horace Mann. A monument including his statue stands in lands belonging to the college inYellow Springs, Ohio with his quote and college motto "Be Ashamed to Die Until You Have WonSome Victory for Humanity."There are a number of schools in the United States named for Mann.Additionally, the University of Northern Colorado named the gates to their campus in hisdedication, a gift of the Class of 1910.The Springfield, Illinois-based Illinois Education AssociationMutual Insurance Company, was renamed in honor of Mann in 1950 as the Horace MannEducators Corporation.

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