For many Americans our educational system has contributed to our development as human beings. These educational opportunities were not always readily available to everyone. African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, women, and individuals with disabilities were discriminated against over the course of the development of our educational system.
Horace Mann, Booker T. Washington, and Catherine Beecher took down the barriers of discrimination with their unwavering approach to educational reform.
Horace Mann was at the forefront of opening the doors to education for people other than just white males. Mann, through his own life experiences, believed that education for all individuals would assist in the development of opportunities for generations to come. Mann set up libraries in many schools making it possible for students to have easy access to books. Booker T. Washington set out to show the white population that African Americans could be productive citizens through his educational leadership. Washington taught with the idea that one learned by doing, thus taught skills that one saw as useful in society. Catherine Beecher is recognized as one of the early advocates of higher education for women. The educational system has had a long and interesting road of development. Although we can read and understand how far it has come, it still has a long way to go.
Many things have left me wondering why there were not any prominent named individuals who worked for reform with Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans. I would assume, just as Horace Mann, Booker T. Washington, Catherine Beecher, and others were noted in the creation of our educational system that one should be able to also read the names of Native, Hispanic, and Asian Americans that also contributed to why education is where it is today.