Social Darwinism and Upper-Class Education in Late Victorian and Edwardian England.

The article examines the 19th century educational philosophy of the British private schools known as endowed public schools. The idealistic statements of headmasters of those schools on the aims of education, which stressed the moral and ethical development of students, are contrasted with statements from former students of the period which depict a harsh environment where physical strength and ability to endure poor conditions were more essential than scholarship. It is argued that the stated concern of the schools for moral and religious education was used to hide a system based on social Darwinism, and that the headmasters and other educators were at pains to hide the fact from themselves as well as others.