How did Matthew Arnold’s reports compare English education with European education?

As an inspector of schools from 1851 to 1886, Matthew Arnold played a pivotal role in advocating for the importance of public education in England.1

Tasked by the government to investigate educational systems in countries such as France, Germany, Holland, and Switzerland, Arnold produced reports that drew sharp comparisons between the two regions. He contrasted the relatively meagre educational contributions provided by the English state—which was heavily influenced by laissez-faire doctrines and relied largely on voluntary or private enterprise—with the significantly more generous and systematic support offered by Continental states.21

Through his urbane and influential prose, Arnold sought to press upon the English conscience the necessity of a more robust, state-supported national system of education to address the limitations of the existing voluntary model.12