Metadata
Title
Representative Horace Mann to Sarah Josepha Hale
Date
1850-09-16
September 16, 1850
Subject
Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell, 1788-1879
Medium
Manuscripts
Language
eng
Type
text
Collection
Sarah Josepha Hale Collection, The Athenaeum of Philadelphia
Identifier
46-M-096
Rights
http://www.philaathenaeum.org/rights.html
Text
Washington, Sept. 16th 1850.
Mrs. Hale,
Dear Madam,
I avail myself
of my earliest moments
of leisure to give
you a reply.
By the official School
Report of last year, it appears
that the whole No. of
Teachers in our Public Schools,
was 8163. Of these 2426
were males, & 5737 females.
It must be stated however,
that this statement embraces
all the teachers for
both the winter & summer
school; so that they are substantially
reckoned twice.
You will see by this that
considerably more than
half of all the teachers in
our Public schools are
female. They teach, not
merely small children, but
large boys, - men grown;
& if they have knowledge
& dignity of character, they
manage young men, not
only like a charm, but
with a charm.
We have one Normal
School in Massachusetts
exclusively devoted to females,
It is near Boston,
where objections exist to the
attendence [attendance] of both sexes,
as such a mature age, (or
immature) on the same
school. In the country,
we have two other Normal
Schools, open to both sexes.
In Albany there is a very
large Nor. School for both
sexes. In Connecticut, there
is a kind of Normal School,
but it is not kept for [the?]
same class only ten weeks.
In Philadelphia, also there is
one; about which you can
obtain more detailed information,
on the spot, than I
can give you.
These are the only Public
Nor. Schools, I know of in this
country, - schools sustained
by the state, or, like that at Philadelphia,
by the city. There are
Normal classes in one of the
Schools in New York city, there
is a private Normal School
in the interior of New York
State, & another near Manchester,
N.H. kept by Wm. Russell.
In the Nor. Sch.s of Mass. we
prepare about 150 for teachers
each year.
I have written not a
little, in favor of employing
Female Teachers. This sex is
advocated in almost all
my official Reports, which
are published in the Common
School Journal. Thro'out [Throughout]
the ten volumes of the
Journal, while I was its Editor,
much was said on this
subject, the index will help you to it.
I have always advocated
their employment in my
lectures. I take the liberty
to send you a short extract from
one of them; I remain, with
great regard, Very truly yrs. & &
Horace Mann.
Mrs. Hale,
Dear Madam,
I avail myself
of my earliest moments
of leisure to give
you a reply.
By the official School
Report of last year, it appears
that the whole No. of
Teachers in our Public Schools,
was 8163. Of these 2426
were males, & 5737 females.
It must be stated however,
that this statement embraces
all the teachers for
both the winter & summer
school; so that they are substantially
reckoned twice.
You will see by this that
considerably more than
half of all the teachers in
our Public schools are
female. They teach, not
merely small children, but
large boys, - men grown;
& if they have knowledge
& dignity of character, they
manage young men, not
only like a charm, but
with a charm.
We have one Normal
School in Massachusetts
exclusively devoted to females,
It is near Boston,
where objections exist to the
attendence [attendance] of both sexes,
as such a mature age, (or
immature) on the same
school. In the country,
we have two other Normal
Schools, open to both sexes.
In Albany there is a very
large Nor. School for both
sexes. In Connecticut, there
is a kind of Normal School,
but it is not kept for [the?]
same class only ten weeks.
In Philadelphia, also there is
one; about which you can
obtain more detailed information,
on the spot, than I
can give you.
These are the only Public
Nor. Schools, I know of in this
country, - schools sustained
by the state, or, like that at Philadelphia,
by the city. There are
Normal classes in one of the
Schools in New York city, there
is a private Normal School
in the interior of New York
State, & another near Manchester,
N.H. kept by Wm. Russell.
In the Nor. Sch.s of Mass. we
prepare about 150 for teachers
each year.
I have written not a
little, in favor of employing
Female Teachers. This sex is
advocated in almost all
my official Reports, which
are published in the Common
School Journal. Thro'out [Throughout]
the ten volumes of the
Journal, while I was its Editor,
much was said on this
subject, the index will help you to it.
I have always advocated
their employment in my
lectures. I take the liberty
to send you a short extract from
one of them; I remain, with
great regard, Very truly yrs. & &
Horace Mann.