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.