I never really put much thought into who the most influential educators have been. I never thought about the pioneers of education as either innovators or makers. I have very little knowledge about the continuing evolution of education, and to be completely honest, I'm O.K. with that. As I perused the list of the most influential innovators, I only noticed two names in which I definitely was familiar, Horace Mann and Booker T. Washington. I could not for the life me tell you what each man's contribution to education was before reading their brief biographies. However, the "makers" list from Gatto's website is a whose who of the most notable American business men in American history. Everyone listed is a common household name, such as, Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan, and Ford, the fathers of American Big Business. In fact, many of their contributions to society are still being experienced today.
Innovators desire change for the benefit of the student in order to bring about educational reformation. Every single person on the list recognized a problem and sought a way to change it for the better. The main difference between innovators and "makers" would be the purpose motivating their agendas. Each innovator is typically altruistic serving the needs of others who are suffering from social prejudices including race, class, and gender, as well as changing the paradigm from which we approach education it self. On the other hand, the "makers" tend to serve personal interests and have much to gain if Gatto's assertions are true implying the purpose for education is to train the population to be manageable, need driven consumers which provide the kindling to fuel America's powerful capitalistic economy.
As an innovator, Booker T. Washington stands out to me because he wanted to teach useful vocational skills to his fellow African-Americans, instead of ,what some would esteem as "true education". He was the founder of the Tuskegee Institute for African-Americans, a school which provided vocational and character education. I wonder if his motivations for doing this, vocational training, were centered upon a belief that blacks would not get a fair shake; therefore, vocational training would be the most realistic method to provide jobs since their opportunities would be limited. I think he was more pragmatic than that. I believe Booker T. Washington knew that the American black population needed as much relief as possible from the marginalized role they had in society, and vocational training was the quickest, easiest, and most reasonable area for the black population to find a niche in society.
Another man I find very intriguing is Andrew Carnegie. He is listed as one of the "makers". He was originally from Dumferline, Scotland and came to America when he was a young boy. He held a few odds and ends jobs as a young man but nothing of any consequence. Nonetheless, he came into his own by growing and building the world's largest steel company, Carnegie Steel Company. In 1901, he sold Carnegie Steel for 480 million dollars to J.P Morgan, who merged with several other steel companies to become U.S. Steel. Carnegie had become the second richest man in the world, second only to man by the name of John D. Rockefeller. He was truly a rags to riches story, but what is even more amazing was his desire to give. He truly believed that everyone should have access to libraries. He built over 3,000 libraries throughout the world and contributed large donations birthing several universities; one of these included the Tuskegee Institute.
Gatto would have us believe that Carnegie and his contemporaries only contributed to education because it satisfied their own needs for capitalism. It seems like quiet an conspiracy to assume the wealthiest want a society with a herd mentality, but if you look at society as a whole, that's what ya got. So maybe, the 4th Rule really is not too far off base. However, I like to believe that Carnegie's motivation was simply for the betterment of his fellow man. It sure warms the heart to embrace Carnegie and his cohorts as people who see a need and are trying to fulfill it the best way possible; instead of, Carnegie helping Booker T. Washington because he saw a labor force in training. Honestly, the truth is probably somewhere in between.
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