Who invented school? Horace Mann invented school and what is today the United States' modern school system. He is an American educational reformer, Slavery abolitionist and a Whig politician. He is known for his commitment of promoting public education. No one did more than he to establish in the minds of the American people the conception that education should be universal, non-sectarian, free, and that its aims should be social efficiency, civic virtue , and character, rather than mere learning or the advancement of sectarian ends In 1838, he founded and edited The Common School Journal . In this journal, Mann targeted the public school and its problems. His six main principles were: 1 the public should no longer remain ignorant; 2 that such education should be paid for, controlled, and sustained by an interested public; 3 that this education will be best provided in schools that embrace children from a variety of backgrounds; 4 that this education must be non-sectarian ; 5 t