Poet and critic Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) was a prominent educator. One of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Elementary Schools for 35 years, he traveled abroad to report on foreign education. Though Arnold is recognized as an early proponent of comparative education, there has been little study of his work in the field.
The author examines Arnold’s writings and presents three related arguments—that England was well behind countries like France and Germany in “the civilization of her middle class”; that advances being made abroad were largely due to strong state education systems, and that it was essential for England to establish a system of post-elementary education modeled on foreign systems.

Brendan A. Rapple is a retired librarian from Boston College and retired professor from Boston College’s Woods College of Advancing Studies. He has published in Contemporary Review, Historical Studies in Education, College Teaching, History of Education, and many other journals. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

Brendan A. Rapple
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 208
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2017
pISBN: 978-1-4766-6359-3
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3112-7
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents

Preface 1
Introduction 9
One—Matthew Arnold, Comparative Educator 35
Two—Arnold and the Role of the State in Modern Society 74
Three—Improving the English Middle Class through Education 96
Four—Improving ­Post-Elementary Education in England 129
Five—Arnold’s Legacy in English Education 161
Chapter Notes 177
Bibliography 183
Index 191