The most important function of the school in 1850 was seen as: a. intellectual training. b. vocational training. c. moral indoctrination. d. child care. e. physical conditioning.

The most important function of the school in 1850 was c. moral indoctrination.

Explanation:

In 1850, the most important function of the school was moral indoctrination. Education is different from indoctrination. Indoctrination means forcing a person with ideas, attitudes, approaches and professional procedures without questioning them. Thus the students are forced with the moral thoughts. During mid-nineteenth-century, the public schools taught the protestant ethic in addition to reading and writing.

The most influential spokesman for the common school movement was Horace Mann.