ABSTRACT
Even early in this century when enthusiasm for reform was at its height, and reputations were being made by proposals of all sorts to modify and in many instances replace common practice in education, there already existed a pale cast of pessimism as to whether the proposed innovative practices would actually make their way into schools and, if they did, whether they would endure. In this sense, the work of Horace Mann as educational reformer leaves little room for optimism about deliberate educational reform since his work can at best be regarded as a catalyst for a change that would have occurred anyway. Each of these serious studies of what high schools are like point to the conclusion that the extension of popular education to the secondary level has been, if not a complete failure, at least a mixed success.
