Who is Horace Mann from Historical and Philosophical Foundations of Education: A Biographical Introduction and what is their importance?

Horace Mann was called the "father of America's public education" and lived during the period that coincided with the beginning of the United States as a young developing nation. There was no educational system to satisfy the nation's political, social and economic needs and its role was undetermined. The agrarian nation began to industrialize and urbanize in Mann's lifetime as did immigration patterns from Europe Horace Mann lived from 1796 to 1859 and was formed by the influence of his family and the town library which he visited to read books on biography and history. He studied Latin and Greek classics and mathematics to prepare for entrance to Brown University where he was admitted in 1816. Mann joined the university's literary and debating group to develop his public speaking.