"It is the law of our nature to desire happiness." Horace Mann said that!

I love this quote of our school's namesake. It's perfect. First of all, it's such a distinctly American idea. It even has echoes of our Declaration of Independence, which reminds us that Americans possess unalienable rights not just to life and liberty, among other things...but we have the right to pursue our happiness, too! It's an actual invitation to go out into our lives and find our joy!

Secondly, and on a more elementary level (pun intended), this desire for happiness ties directly into the values we hold dear at our school. We love to honor choice at Mann, and aim to make the bounty of choices explicit every day at school. As an extension of that, I strive to kindle the love of choice in the library, too, with my constant questioning ("what can I help you find today?"), or my insistence on putting choices up for a vote ("OK, time for democracy in action, time to VOTE!"). Offering kids choices wherever and whenever possible at school and in the library are sure ways to make the experience of learning joyful for our Centaurs. It circles round to meaningful participation in our democratic society - so now we're back at the distinct American-ness of Horace Mann's quote, aren't we? Like I said, I love this quote of our school's namesake. It's perfect!

This video is not quite perfect, but it's a fun, old-timey movie about Horace Mann. It's my hope that we can update this video with a student-created version sometime next year! Who's willing to work on this?