The public school movement mainly refers to the free compulsory education movement maintained by public taxes, managed by public educational institutions and facing the whole public. In this movement, Horace Mann (1796- 1859) and others became important promoters, so Horace Mann was called "the father of American public schools". The public school movement first occurred in the field of primary education, and its main characteristics are as follows: first, the local tax system was established and public primary schools were founded; Second, the compulsory education law was promulgated and compulsory enrollment was implemented. The age and time of compulsory schooling are gradually extended with the promotion of compulsory education; Third, adopt free education to promote the development of universal compulsory education. The development of public primary education has also promoted the development of American normal schools to some extent. /kloc-from the end of 0/9 to the beginning of the 20th century, the American public school movement was mainly carried out in middle schools, and public schools implemented the principle of free education, providing more people with opportunities to receive secondary education. The establishment of a large number of public schools in the United States not only laid the foundation of the capitalist education system in the United States, but also became the beginning of the universal compulsory education movement in the United States. From 1852 to 1853, Massachusetts and New York successively promulgated compulsory education laws, which laid the foundation for the universal implementation of compulsory primary education in various States after the Civil War.
A large number of public schools need more teachers objectively, which stimulates the development of normal education in the United States. 1839, Massachusetts opened the first state normal school in the United States, which represents the characteristics of normal education in the eastern United States, that is, influenced by German normal education, it is a vocational school that specializes in cultivating public primary school teachers and pays attention to teaching the application skills of teaching methods; 1853, Illinois established the first private school in the United States, which represents the characteristics of normal education in the midwest of the United States, that is, the class restrictions for normal students are not strict, the school attaches great importance to it, and teaching not only pays attention to teaching methods, but also requires teaching students to use knowledge more comprehensively. The midwest of the United States attaches importance to and demands for normal education, as well as different opinions on attaching importance to normal education and attaching importance to academics, all of which reflect the characteristics of normal education in the United States, and these characteristics have also existed for a long time in the later development of normal education in the United States.