... in life, instead of making them good servants...to which their rank in society had destined them 1 Elementary education's eventual introduction in 1870 owed much to concerns that British industry and military were falling behind Prussia's due to insufficiently educated workers and soldiers.2 Furthermore, with the expansion of voting rights, that is, the increasing equality of British citizens, elementary education came to be seen not as a threat but as a necessary instrument to instil loyalty to the state in the lower classes.3 In any case, it provided the basis upon which the national education system we know today developed in the following 100 years. Economic, military and financial concerns all continued to play a considerable role in educational policy. But in the twentieth century they were overshadowed in importance by the changing definitions of equality. The latter provided the real impetus for educational reforms. To demonstrate the central importance of ...

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