Commentary
Since the beginning of statehood, Californians have pursued education at a steep cost to produce a free society in the frontier along the Pacific Ocean.
During the height of the Mexican-American War, women like Olive Mann Isbell established the first school in California at the Mission Santa Clara de Asis while bullets whirled over her and the heads of 200 children in her stewardship, according to the 2015 book “Chalkboard Heroes: Twelve Courageous Teachers and Their Deeds of Valor” by Terry Lee Marzell.
Isbell fulfilled the role as a founder, principal, and teacher, and valiantly provided the children an education and respite from the hostilities around them—not because the state required it, but because the children needed it. Her legacy challenges the narrative that only government can create schools and ensure children are educated….