Week One Blog - The Common School

Week One Blog

This week, we learned about something called the Common School Era. That means the time in history when people in America started to believe that every kid should be able to go to school. Before this time, only rich kids or boys got to learn. But leaders like Horace Mann wanted to change that. He believed school was super important not just to learn reading and math, but to help kids grow up to be good people and help the country.

In our group, we each picked a word, a phrase, and a sentence from the reading that we thought showed what this time in history was really about. Then we talked about our choices and decided which ones were the best to show the meaning of the Common School Era.

The Word: Equality

My classmate Ineesha chose the word “equality” because people during this time believed that school could help make things fairer. Horace Mann thought that if all kids went to school, rich or poor, then everyone could have the same chances in life. But even though people said they wanted equality, not everyone got treated the same. Girls, Black kids, Native American kids, and poor kids didn’t always get good schools or any school at all.

Nam and I picked the word “common.” I thought that word was important because it shows school was meant to be for everyone. “Common” means shared by all people. Nam said that schools were made to be open to all kinds of kids so the country could be strong in the future. I agree. If everyone learns the same, we can all help each other and make good choices when we grow up.

The Phrase: Education is the great equalizer

This was my favorite part of the reading. Horace Mann said that “education is the great equalizer.” That means school helps everyone get the same chance in life. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor—school can help you get a job, vote, and be a good citizen. I picked this phrase because it made me think about how school can help you do anything if you try your best.

Ineesha also chose this phrase. She said it was powerful because it shows why school is important—not just for learning letters and numbers, but to help kids become strong people in the world. We both agreed that even though it was a good goal, not everyone got the same chances. Still, it’s something schools today are still working on.

Nam picked a different phrase: “They treated poverty like it was a defect of character.” That means people used to think poor kids were bad or lazy, instead of thinking maybe the system was unfair. Her phrase reminded us that schools weren’t always equal, even when they were supposed to be.

The Sentence: “Without education, a free and democratic society could not survive.”

This was the sentence I picked because it shows how serious people were about school. If kids don’t go to school, they might not learn how to help their country. They might not understand how to vote, how laws work, or how to make the world better. Horace Mann and others thought school was the key to freedom and fairness in America.

Ineesha picked: “The public school is the greatest discovery made by man.” She liked this sentence because it showed how excited people were about public school. They thought it was just as important as big inventions like electricity or science. Nam picked: “Citizens had an obligation to reach into their wallets and pay for children to be educated, even if it isn’t their own children.” That one meant everyone had to help pay for school, because educated kids grow up to help the whole country—not just themselves.

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