Horace Mann had a huge impact on education, in Massachusetts and nationally. He is best known for his policy on compulsory education--free elementary school education for all. This was in mid-nineteenth century Massachusetts. He is almost as well known for the founding of "normal" schools to prepare elementary teachers, often a one or two-year course of training after grade 10 or so. Among the first two normal schools were Bridgewater Normal School (where I grew up--in its shadow) and Framingham Normal School.
