Horace Mann was an individual who promoted public education, however, he also promoted oralist methods with Deaf children. This means that he encouraged teachers to teach Deaf children articulation and lipreading while withholding American Sign Language. This is an extremely ineffective technique and is detrimental to the success and quality of life of those in the Deaf community.

Rhode Island College received a Bond Referendum granting $25 million to RIC to renovate Horace Mann Hall and after the reopening of the building, I suggest the building be renamed after a different influential person in education or in the Deaf community. An example of an individual would be Andrew Foster who was a Deaf African American man who created the first schools for Deaf children in Ghana, Rwanda and other countries in Africa in the 1950s.