A Study On Matthew Arnold's Educational Thought

The Era of Victoria in the 19^th century is a glorious period in Great Britain, with the world's strongest army, the so-called "world's steel plant", "the world's ship-building expert" and "the world's centre of bankers and trade".At this age, with the rise of democratization, "materialism" was also flourishing in the society. For example, with its economic power, the newly developed middle class was becoming a dominating power of the country. But improvidence and self-satisfaction were growing up with the rise of this class. They thought rich life was their biggest happiness, hence, fell into the pursuit of materialism worship. Matthew Arnold, the famous educationist, poet, and critic in the 19th century of U.K., believed that "instrumentalist belief was universal and typical of the age. He criticized that people were making a fetish of materialism civilization, rather than humanic harmony and perfection development. Meanwhile, due to the co-existence of the orders of both the old society and the new one, there was the disequilibrium of the values and beliefs among the British people. It was in this background that Matthew Arnold presumed his theory of culture and narrated his ideas of education, he practiced what he preached painfully and relentlessly as well.This dissertation consists of six parts.Part One, an Introduction, a brief introduction of the background of British Schooling in the Victorian Era in the 19^th century, the main educational thought of Matthew Arnold, and the significance of this research.Part Two, the life and the important works of Matthew Arnold.Part Three, Matthew Arnold's theories on cultural education, namely, his definition of "culture", the aims of cultural education and the implementation of cultural education. Part Four, Matthew Arnold's thought on schooling, his thought on primary education and middle-class education.Part Five, the reasonings of Matthew Arnold's educational thought,basically, six elements affecting the formation of Matthew Arnold's educational thought.Part Six, the Conclusion Matthew Arnold's influence, three distinctive feature: compatibility, practicability, and critic.