Innovators vs. Makers of Public Education

Upon reviewing the PBS site on Innovators of Public Education and Gatto’s information on the Makers of Public School I have draw some conclusions about what it means to be an innovator and a maker. The innovators of education are the people who once were and continue to be on the front line of education. They are students, teachers, and individual who made it a life goal to improve the educational system for future students. The makers are the financial investors of the educational system. Based upon Gatto’s works their motives for involvement in education appear to have been for the gain of their business ventures.

All of the innovators on the PBS site are important players in creating the educational system we have today. I do not feel one person’s contribution is any more valuable than the next person. With that said I do feel that Horace Mann is the individual who set the ball in motion. Mann’s dedication to education brought several major changes to school system of his time including: a longer school year, teacher training, increased funding for educational needs, a state department of education, and more.

Of the “makers” highlighted on Gatto’s site I find John D. Rockefeller’s to be the most intriguing. His funding allowed schools of the south (still suffering from the destruction of the Civil War) to be revamped. Rockefeller funding also allowed innovator John Dewey to form the Progressive Education Association. As with all makers Rockefeller’s motives do not appear to be for the better education of society (Gatto, n.d.) In the book Weapons of Mass Instruction Gatto generalizes a message set forth by the Rockefeller Education Board. “They didn’t want brains or talent, just obedience (p. 8)” As happens in life, the good deeds of the philanthropists of the early 20th century were motivated by their own business goals.

Gatto, J.T. (n.d.). Daughters of the Barons of Runnemede, The underground history of an American education. Retrieved from http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/12o.htm

Gatto, J.T. (2009). Weapons of Mass Instruction. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society.