A Study On The Educational Thoughts And Practices Of Arnold

Thomas Arnold,a modern British educator and historian,began his exploration of reforming Rugby School in 1828 when he became the headmaster.By injecting a new life to the naturally dying British public schools,Arnold successfully became the reformer and savior of public schools.Consequently,he made a great influence on English education.Rugby School is a kind of boarding school only for boys,of whose education Arnold had a profound knowledge.According to the national situation of education and the development of society,Arnold conceived an ideal of Christian Manliness.In order to make students have it,Arnold made some reforms in some aspects,such as the management,the morality,the curriculum,the teaching methods and so on.As a result,he cultivated lots of outstanding students.Also,Arnold paid attention to family education,and his children acquired remarkable achievements.During the way of the development of age and the process of the interaction between the already existing things and the newly emerging thing,Arnold got the balanced point of his time and created a harmonious feature of his students.Just as classical works were important to Arnold,Arnold and his works are important to the educators and parents nowadays,who are expecting something from education research.Using the methods of documentation,historical research and case study,this dissertation studies the educational thoughts and practices of Thomas Arnold in three chapters.The first chapter mainly introduces Arnold's experience and growths in three periods,including in early education,in university education and growth and after having a family.In the second chapter,firstly it starts with Arnold's knowledge of boys' education;secondly it studies the curriculum reform of Rugby school and discussed the educational ways of Arnold;the third chapter mainly focuses on the influence and assessments of the thoughts and practices of Arnold's education.The conclusion part points out the research findings of the educational thoughts and practices of Thomas Arnold to provide some ideas and suggestions for educators and parents in our country.