Notable personalities who reformed the Education System

Education is one of the most important tools because it can be used as a weapon to improve one’s life. Historically, numerous prominent figures made a difference in the way we learn. We bring forward a few of these teachers, philosophers and educational reformers.

Horace Mann

A leader in the Education Reform Movement, Mann was “The Reformer” who changed the way children learned. He promoted public education. There was a reform movement, and the state created the nation’s first board of education in 1837. Mann was appointed as the secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education. Due to minimal funds, Mann’s position involved moral leadership specifically. He launched a biweekly journal for teachers and lectured on education. Mann’s work resulted in a revolution in the approach used in the standard school system of Massachusetts, which influenced other states.

Dr Samuel Howe

An advocate of education for the blind, Howe created a school for the visually impaired called Perkins Institution. When in 1833 Howe exhausted his funds the legislature approved more funding because of its success. Howe was the heart of the school, who opened a printing-office and organized a fund for printing for the blind. In 1837, Laura Bridgman, a deaf-blind girl, was enrolled, who later became a teacher at the school. Dr Howe brought forward several needed improvements in teaching methods, as well as in the process of printing books in Braille.

Catharine Beecher

Beecher devoted her early career to promoting women’s education and the evolution of culture as a profession. Along with her sister, she founded a school for young women in Hartford, which became the Hartford Female Seminary in 1824. Towards the 1840s, Beecher established the Central Committee for Promoting National Education, which promoted teacher education. In 1852 Catharine Beecher was one of the founders of the American Women’s Educational Association. She considered women natural teachers and recognized the potential of educated women. She encouraged the education of women to fill the increasing need for teachers.

Shahjadi Jemim Rahman