Hi everyone! On my timeline of things I need to do in order to make my little school a reality, I am dedicating the summer to researching and reading. I am currently reading School’s Over, by Jerry Mitz. The author is the founder of the Alternative Education Resource Organization. It is a very interesting book. I was reading it last night before bed. When I woke up this morning, I was thinking about two interesting facts I learned about the origins of public education as we know it.
When I was a kid I learned that Horace Mann was the main guy who created the public education system in America. As a kid who hated school, I was always annoyed by the fact that he and I shared the same last name and that he could possibly be related to me!
Did you know that the real reasons that Horace Mann created the public education system was to create obedient, compliant, Republican citizens?
Did you know why we have bells in schools? It is because during the industrial revolution, most children were expected to grow up and work in factories. Factories used whistles to tell workers what to do and when. Therefore, having bells in schools would train children to get up and move when they heard a sound. Now, even though there are many other job opportunities besides factories, school children are still trained to get up and move when they hear a bell.
What do you think of that?
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