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Oliver E. Hadingham, Waseda University, JapanAbstract
Thomas Arnold, headmaster of Rugby School from 1828-1842, is usually seen as the one man who created the English modern public school. Yet the public school movement in the mid-nineteenth century was more a response to the demands of a particular section of a rapidly changing society. Arnold and his disciples first voiced and then channelled this demand. Various changes stimulated the growth of public schools and the desirability of a public school education: the spread of railways, the competition for scholarships to Oxbridge, and the growth of examinations for the professions. Perhaps most importantly, a desire for a ‘gentleman’s education’ and the opportunities such an education offered was growing among the aspiring middle class Public schools offered an education in character: boys were taught first the acceptance of authority and then the exercise of it, ‘healthy’ outdoor pursuits would curb the tendencies of boys to slovenliness, and a classical curriculum would cultivate pupils and ready them for leadership. The demand for this style of education, however modified it now is, has not really disappeared.
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Conference: ACE2016Stream: International schools and educational goals
This paper is part of the ACE2016 Conference Proceedings (View)
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