ARNOLD, THOMAS

ARNOLD, THOMAS. - English theologian, historian, politician, and educator, b. at West Cowes (Isle of Wight) on 13 June 1795, d. at Fox How (Westsnorchend) on 12 June 1842. He exerted considerable influence on the youth of his time, above all because he was headmaster of Rugby School. His formation was based on classical culture, especially on Euclid and Aristotle. A. wished the educator to be wholly imbued with the Christian spirit. Religious instruction, as the force that was to shape man, constituted for him the foundation of all education. Christ is not only the redeemer, but the friend and the teacher. The teacher, in order truly to be such, must possess certain inner qualities, such as a sense of justice and love of truth. In his relations with pupils, A. showed understanding and affection. Latin and Greek, in A.’s curriculum, constituted, by reason of their beauty and strength, the foundations of knowledge; although he intended that boys should not approach authors not always moral, such as Tibullus, Propertius, and Juvenal, or historians such as Livy, because of their less than absolute historical fidelity. Love and admiration for ancient culture did not lead A. to despise the culture of his own time, which he attempted to reconcile with the spirit of classical literatures.