John Swett
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John Swett (July 31, 1830 – August 22, 1913) is considered to be the "Father of the California public school" system and the "
Horace Mann Horace Mann (May 4, 1796August 2, 1859) was an American educational reformer, slavery abolitionist and Whig politician known for his commitment to promoting public education. In 1848, after public service as Secretary of the Massachusetts Sta ...
of the Pacific".


Biography

John Swett was an only child born July 31, 1830 in
Pittsfield, New Hampshire Pittsfield is a town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,075 at the 2020 census. The main village in town, where 1,570 people resided at the 2020 census, is defined as the Pittsfield census-designated place (C ...
, to Lucretia (born French) Swett and Ebenezer Swett, who were
Congregationalists Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...
. He died August 22, 1913 in
Alhambra Valley Alhambra Valley (, ) is a census-designated place in the Briones Hills of central Contra Costa County, California. Alhambra Valley sits at an elevation of . The 2010 United States census reported that Alhambra Valley's population was 924. The Spani ...
, near Martinez, California. He married Mary Louise (Tracy) Swett on May 8, 1862 in Sonoma, and they had 6 children. During his life he was a close friend of
Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...
co-founder
John Muir John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, a ...
. Swett arrived in California in 1853 to mine gold but quickly sought work as a teacher in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
. In 1862 he became a
Freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
, joining San Francisco's Phoenix Lodge No. 144. In 1863 he was instrumental in founding the California Educational Society, which would become the
California Teachers Association The California Teachers Association (CTA), initially established in 1863, is one of the largest and most powerful teachers' unions in the state with over 300,000 members and a high political profile in California politics. The teachers' union is ba ...
, the largest teachers' union in the state of California. Running in 1863, during the
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, as a National Union Party (Republican) candidate he was elected
California State Superintendent of Public Instruction The state superintendent of public instruction (SPI) of California is the nonpartisan (originally partisan) elected executive officer of the California Department of Education. The SPI directs all functions of the Department of Education, execut ...
and served until 1867. Other positions he held were Deputy Superintendent of the San Francisco Public Schools (1870–1873), Principal of the Denman School (1873–1876) and Girls High School (San Francisco) (1876–1889); the School Board there was dissatisfied with his administration because he had taken no steps toward its
accreditation Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...
by the
University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...
and because no women had been sent to the university since 1884. In 1890 he was elected superintendent of the
San Francisco Public Schools San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), established in 1851, is the only public school district within the City and County of San Francisco, and the first in the state of California. Under the management of the San Francisco Board of Educa ...
on the Republican and Reform Democratic tickets. In 1895 he retired to his estate, Hill Girt Ranch.


California State Superintendent of Public Instruction (1863-1867)

His most important accomplishment was making the California school system free for all students. In his report for 1866–67, he stated: "The school year ending June 30, 1867, marks the transition period of California from rate-bill common schools to an American free school system. For the first time in the history of the State, every public school was made entirely free for every child to enter."


Criticism

In his 1878 book '' The Poison Fountain''
Zachariah Montgomery Zachariah "Zach" Montgomery (March 6, 1825 in Nelson County, Kentucky – September 3, 1900 in Los Angeles, California) was a publisher, lawyer, politician, and author, particularly known for his skills as an orator. Montgomery's speeches were ...
criticized, among other things, Swett's autocratic style. He states the following on page 111:
It must be remembered that Superintendent Swett maintains the proposition that parents have no remedy against the teachers, and that: "As a general thing the only persons who have a legal right to give orders to the teacher are his employers, namely, the committee in some States, and in others the directors or trustees. If his conduct is approved by his employers the parents have no remedy as against him or them." (See Swett's Biennial Report, 1864, page 166.)
And we must not forget that this same superintendent has said that: " The vulgar impression that parents have a legal right to dictate to teachers is entirely erroneous."
In his 1876 book, ''History of the Public School Systems of California'', Swett becomes one of the first Californian educators to specify that mature children actually belong to the state or society, writing:
"Children arrived at the age of maturity belong, not to the parents, but to the State, to society, to the country."


Tributes

*John Swett Award for Media Excellence, awarded yearly by the
California Teachers Association The California Teachers Association (CTA), initially established in 1863, is one of the largest and most powerful teachers' unions in the state with over 300,000 members and a high political profile in California politics. The teachers' union is ba ...
*
John Swett High School John Swett High School is located in Crockett, California, United States. It serves the communities of Crockett, Port Costa, Rodeo, and the Foxboro area of Hercules. It is named after John Swett, former California Superintendent of Public In ...
in
Crockett, California Crockett (formerly Crockettville) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Contra Costa County, in the East Bay sub-region of the San Francisco Bay Area, California. The population was 3,094 at the 2010 census. It is located 28 miles northeast of San ...
* John Swett Elementary School in Martinez, CA *
John Swett Unified School District The John Swett Unified School District (JSUSD) is a public school district in Contra Costa County, California. It currently operates one elementary school, one middle school, and one standard high school and another for Continuing and Alternative ...
in
Contra Costa County, California ) of the San Francisco Bay , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = California , subdivision_type2 ...
*On the day of his funeral (August 25, 1913), nearly every school in California closed in honor of Swett.JoinCalifornia, Election History of the State of California, John Swett page
/ref>


Books and other works

*His papers have been donated by his children to the
Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...
at the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

Guide to the John Swett Papers, 1853-1913
Bancroft Library Staff, University of California, Berkeley *Also donated to the Bancroft Library were the papers of the Tracy family (Swett's wife's family)
Tracy family papers (ca. 1800-1888)
Collection Number: BANC MSS Z-Z 107
''History of the Public School System of California''
by John Swett
''Methods of Teaching''
by John Swett


See also

* George H. Atkinson, Founder of the Oregon Public school system


References


External links

*
Mountain View People webpage
describing John Swett's grave site at
Mountain View Cemetery (Oakland, California) The Mountain View Cemetery is a rural cemetery in Oakland, California, United States. It was established in 1863 by a group of East Bay pioneers under the California Rural Cemetery Act of 1859. The association they formed still operates the cem ...
. He is interred with his daughter Helen Swett Artieda and her husband Gregorio Artieda.
"Early Vision of Semple, Swett Realized in Broad, Firm Educational System"
by Will C. Wood, State Superintendent of Public Instruction

by Ruth E. Sutter

JiffyNotes.com

Lewis Publishing Co, 1892. (San Francisco County Biographies, Genealogy.com)

(New York: American Books, 1911) (from http://www.encyclopedia.com) *John Swett's entry in various editions of ''
Who's Who ''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biography, biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a gr ...
'':
''Who's Who in America'', Volume 3
edited by John William Leonard, Albert Nelson Marquis
''Who's Who in America''A Yankee Patriot: John Swett, the Horace Mann of the Pacific Nicholas C. Polos History of Education Quarterly Vol. 4, No. 1 (Mar., 1964), pp. 17-32
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swett, John 1830 births 1913 deaths People from Pittsfield, New Hampshire Politicians from San Francisco California Superintendents of Public Instruction American education writers American educational theorists Schoolteachers from California American trade union leaders Labor relations in California People of the California Gold Rush History of California People from Alhambra, California 19th-century American politicians Activists from California Activists from New Hampshire American Freemasons American school principals