We discuss one of the oldest ambitions in U.S. education: that teachers should treat children as active learners, teaching should be intellectually engaging, teachers should respect students' thinking, and schools should cultivate thoughtful work. These ideas originated when Horace Mann and his allies campaigned for them. We revisit them and take up a key problem in the study of U.S. schooling: can those ambitions be turned into regular work in many classrooms?