Institutions of Local Government have developed themselves on the lines
desiderated by Arnold in 1868. The subordination of education to
municipal authority is a new and a risky experiment, but it is exactly
the experiment which he wished to see. The resuscitation of the
Edwardian and Elizabethan Grammar Schools all over the country has
brought the notion of the Public School to the very door of the Middle
Class, and has shaken, if it has not yet destroyed, Mr. Creakle's
stronghold. Even in the matter of Denominational Education in the
Elementary Schools, where many deem that a retrograde step has been
taken, the State has acted on a hint which Arnold gave to the extreme
reformers of his time.
"Most English Liberals," he said, "seem persuaded that our Elementary
Schools should be undenominational, and their teaching secular; and that
with a public elementary school it cannot well be otherwise. Let them
clearly understand, however, that on the Continent generally--everywhere
except in Holland--the public elementary school is denominational (of
course with what we should call a 'conscience clause') and its teaching
religious as well as secular.
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