Themes - AQAWhat is education? for the other characters
You will notice that many of these themes appear in the form of questions. The History Boys seems to be more interested in making you think than in providing easy answers.
Education is about truth. She worries about Hector鈥檚 emphasis on art, suggesting that in her past experience pupils who didn鈥檛 succeed academically were therefore assumed to be artists.
For the Headmaster:
He is primarily concerned with league table results.
For the boys:
They have a fairly cynical attitude to education. Their approach is to please whichever teacher is in the room at the time 鈥 Dakin in particular takes this approach because he wants to get on. Rudge believes there is a truth out there for him to write down, but is mocked for his belief.
The play raises lots of questions about what education is, but does not answer many. It is something the audience are left to think about.