Innovators and Makers of Education

My personal thoughts regarding the innovators and makers would be first to say that every story has two sides. The innovator and maker that I feel truly influenced public education, as we know it today would be John D. Rockefeller and Horace Mann. My initial thoughts regarding the makers and innovators would be that the makers seemed like the rich robber barons that took control of the public schools through the use of money and power. Gatto’s site reiterated what my perspective was of the Rockefeller name when hearing it. After reading through the PBS site, the innovators seemed as though they are the people that did the dirty work of fighting for the advancement of public education through their personal time and energy.

The thing that stood out to me about Horace Mann (the innovator that I choose) was that he argued for public education in economic terms saying that it would increase the wealth of individuals, cities, states, and the country. Mann also believed that “moral training” would be beneficial to the growing numbers of the urban poor. I think that this has never been more relevant than today. Just walking through the schools today, you can see the lack of morals that exist and the absence of appreciation for education. I strongly believe that without education families will continue to live in poverty for generations to come.

The maker that I choose to research was John D. Rockefeller. Just hearing the name makes you think of a money tycoon, someone with extreme wealth and power. It was interesting to learn that Rockefeller was mainly raised by his mother in a modest upbringing. According to http://johndrockefeller.org/, Rockefeller’s mother taught him to work, save, and give to charities. Rockefeller followed what he was taught and gave generously to education. He founded the General Education Board that later became known as the Rockefeller Foundation. The General Education Board helped to establish high schools in the South. In 1919 Rockefeller donated $50,000,000 to the Board to raise teacher salaries during WWI when salaries were extremely low. In just sixteen years Rockefeller transferred $235,000,000 to the Board for the advancement of education. The two men had different roles in the forming of education in the US, although both were instrumental in shaping where we are now.