Thomas Arnold

Thomas Philips, RA, artist

B. Holl, engraver

Source: Frontispiece, Stanley's biography of Arnold

“What Arnold did for public schools was to alter and expand, to a degree which amounted to a revolution, the aims and objects which these institutions set before themselves. Before his time the avowed object of the public schools was to impart learning; system and discipline were subservient to this end. . . . Arnold took a much broader view of the objects of education; while deeply impressed with the importance of learning, he realized that it was only a part of education, and that the great end and aim of education was the formation of character. . . . The ideal which he set before himself was to train boys to become not merely scholars but Christian gentlemen.” — Bradby, 55