Secret histories lie behind the walls of Columbia University and its affiliate colleges… If one looks a little closer, they can discover a whole new world of subtle historical connections…

While walking back to my dorm, in a way to mitigate the boredom of the commute home, my eyes traversed the walls of Teachers College. Within the red brick wall, I noticed the etched letters “Horace Mann.” Now, to many, this may be of no significance, but as a native New Yorker, I immediately thought of Horace Mann, a well-known private school in the Bronx. My mind couldn’t help but wonder if there was a connection between Columbia University and this private school situated a borough away, but I wouldn’t be surprised, as, somehow, everyone and everything in New York City shares some sort of connection.

In 1887, Horace Mann was founded as an experimental unit of education to provide room to try out alternative progressive educational ideals. The school was originally led by Nicholas Butler, who was its first principal and later served as president of the university. Butler’s main principles included utilizing his understanding of psychology to guide the teaching of children, as well as implementing manual training into education, which would differentiate the Horace Mann “model school” as a new experimental education. 

In a 1927 edition of the Columbia Spectator, the radical changes in teaching were described as  “more practical industrial arts and an ‘all ’round training’” which were “considered highly radical by the educational world of the period…” According to the article, part of these changes included “laboratories, fully equipped classrooms, shops for manual training, and a curriculum which placed a direct emphasis on the industrial as well as the cultural arts.” Twenty-seven years after the founding of Horace Mann, in 1914, the boys’ division of Horace Mann made its way uptown to the Bronx, while the girls’ division was merged with the Lincoln School in 1940, albeit shut down years later. Horace Mann officially cut ties with Columbia University in 1947 and established itself as an individual school, yet its history can still be found subtly inscribed in the walls of Teachers College. 

But what was the connection between Teachers College and Horace Mann? Well, it seems that subsequently, as Horace Mann was being developed, Teachers College was also being molded, with Dr. Butler himself confirming in a NYT interview that Teachers College served as “a sequel to the Horace Mann School.” Students of the Science of Education were allowed to observe Horace Mann classes and afterward “the teacher [met] the students, listen[ed] to suggestions and criticisms, answer[ed] questions and defend[ed] his methods.” It seems that Horace Mann paved the way for students to become teachers, something I never thought I would learn from looking up from my phone during my walk home.

Image via Bwarchives