Thesis: I agree that teacher qualification is an essential element in providing an excellent education in public schools and many of the concepts advocated by Horace Mann continues in public school education today. Horace Mann, the father of American public education, politician and educator who promoted educational success for both poor and rich as a means of making America a more stable and competitive, wrote twelve annual reports during his tenure as Massachusetts Secretary of Education. Fourth Annual Report of the Board of Education with the Secretary of the Board 1841 The Indispensable Teacher and published ____ . Known more commonly as The Indispensable Teacher, Mann's fourth annual report expresses his concerns about the current state and improvements of public education. Mann wrote, to varying degrees, about his interests in improvement in the areas of public versus private school attendance, preparing the student for a real experience. life experiences, equality between people, gender roles and gender expectations, recognition of teachers' achievements and qualities. Furthermore, teacher safety, morality, classroom management and discipline, academic content, salary, books and qualified teachers were among his main concerns. Mann's ideas were so profound that many of them continue as integral components of public education today into the 1920s. first century. As an example of efforts to ensure that districts hire qualified teachers, Mann presents the need for prudential boards, precursors to teacher selection boards and human resources departments, to secure the needed qualified teachers in advance because delaying would mean “good teachers are all pre-engaged". In a but...... half of the document ......usetts for the years 1839 – 1849. Boston: Lee and Shepard Publishers 1891.[Online]. Google.com: Google Books Online. Retrieved February 10, 2014, from http://books.google.com/books?id=RfwAAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_ r&cad=0#v=snippet&q=fourth%20annual%20report&f=falseMann, H. (1841 ) Fourth Annual Report of the Board of Education With the Secretary of the Board. The Indispensable Teacher Retrieved February 5, 2014 from MercerUniversity Blackboard, Resource Readings for Foundations of Education mercer.edu Mullenholz, G. (2013) Op-Ed. : We desperately need more male elementary school teachers. Retrieved February 5, 2014, from http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/07/19/we-need-more-male-elementary-school-teachers