T. Arnold's Folklore Ideas

English educator. Infantile, but of superior intellect. As a teenager, he loved to study history and geography, and wrote poetry. 1818, after graduating from the university, he became a deacon, a pastor and a tutor in the church, and carried out historical and theological researches. 1825-1827, he traveled to Italy, and became interested in German literature and "Tauruning" (German sports). 1828, he became the headmaster of Rugby School, and received a doctorate in theology in the same year. 1835, he became the assessor of the examination authority of the University of London. In 1828 he became principal of Rugby School, and in the same year he received a doctorate in theology; in 1835 he became a member of the examining board of the University of London, and in 1841 he became a professor of modern history at the University, before dying of heart disease in 1842.

Arnold's merit in sports lies in the initial formation of a system of school sports through the reform of Rugby School, which introduced the traditional English competitive games into the school.

Originally, traditional British outdoor sports (games and competitions) were important in schools like Rugby, the most popular being cricket, soccer, rowing and hunting. Arnold made good use of student self-government to organize such sports, and in October 1839 Queen Adelaide visited Rugby School. Other schools thereafter followed suit, making organized competitive games part of schooling.

With the development of Britain, the "Arnold Way" spread around the world and had a strong influence on the world of competitive sports. When P.de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics, traveled to England, he appreciated the competitive games in English schools, and later promoted such competitive games in French schools.