Reforming the syllabus
Logie Bruce Lockhart
As a very young headmaster, I was rebuked at a conference by the headmaster (not the present one) of what is usually called 'a Very Famous Public School in the South of England' for talking in Rousseauesque terms about the importance of the heart and the imagination. 'When we hear a headmaster talk about character,' he said, 'we know that his e`xam results are slipping!' I thought it a remarkably cheap gibe for a person of his eminence, and I still think so. His crack made me think with more sympathy of that famous writer who said of himself in Who's Who: 'Educated during the holidays from Eton'.
1 hasten to say that neither of these remarks is truly characteristic of that great school today, which encourages wide horizons without harm to its examination results. Nevertheless, both these tonguein-cheek epigrams point to half-truths. Our present curriculum, dominated as it almost inevitably must be by '0' and 'A' levels, is so time-consuming that the task of opening true education to the more intelligent students has to be crammed into the last few, precious, unclaimed portions of the day. 'A' levels are examinations laying too great stress on speed against the clock and the memorisation of masses of trivial detail: both are admirable skills but not prime necessities for creative inventiveness, or for true scholarship, or even for success at the more enlightened universities. However, preparation for the present university system virtually necessitates three 'A' levels at tight periods a week for two years. Some outstanding masters may be able to use these 'A' levels, with their brighter students, as a basis for a wider education, but it is not easy. Rigid adherence to the syllabus to help average boys get a high grade may prove a positive handicap to the preparation of potential Oxbridge scholars. Many university dons look first for candidates who can analyse a problem logically and objectively, select relevant facts and present solutions clearly. Others would stress that they want candidates who have the restless enthusiasm and curiosity to persist in asking questions about themselves and the world they live in beyond the narrow confines of their syllabus. There is some evidence to suggest that such candidates may be restricted by the need to get high 'A' level grades. The 'S' level papers, the Oxbridge examinations or even the general papers may be better indicators of their real potential. Yet many universities ignore distinctions or merits obtained on the 'S' paper. Fearful of trusting headmasters' reports, interviews or signs of genuine intelligence and motivation, they take refuge in adding up 'A' level points: 5 for A grade, 4 for B grade, 3 for C, 2 for D, 1 for E. Every schoolmaster knows thatalthough there is some significance in an A grade or an E grade, the grey area between B and D (even though the C band has been widened) is a matter of luck in question-spotting, form on a particular day, or even, in the case of the ladies, a matter of the phases of the moon or of a quarrel with the boy friend.
It would all be much better if we could return to two 'A' levels plus two or three subsidiary subjects, including some on the other side of the 'two culture gap'. The massive bureaucratic resistance to change, however, makes this apparently impossible. In the meantime many headmasters have agreed to reserve one third of their available periods specifically for non'A' level work: so much to do, so little time, so important and so little recognised.
First: 'Something on the other side'. The three Science 'A' level man should have opportunity for essay writing or précis work and to keep up a foreign language. The Arts man should be able to take computer studies, maths or economics.
Second: Room must be made for something creative and imaginative — involvement of emotion, expression through movement, thinking with the hands: acting, art, dance, handicraft, creative writing or public speaking.
Third: Time must be found for the exploration of possible careers, for seeing and hearing what happens in the world of industry, commerce and the professions.
Fourth: they must be presented, if only in outline, with the great issues of the time so that they may see how their studies in the sixth form and afterwards relate to their service in the Big Wide World. This will include the working of Parliament, the law, the EEC and the United Nations, a study of Marxist and Fascist tyranny, the problems of the environment, pollution, world food distribution, racial tensions, population, drugs and drink, crime and punishment, terrorism and, inevitably, the moral, spiritual and religious issues which lie at the heart of all these problems.
Fifth: they must still have generous provision for sport and games.
Last: they must (and this is most important of all) have time to learn, to think and to work, and to develop the enthusiasm to do their own thinking under their own steam. Somehow we must understand the cry: We have so many lessons we can't learn anything'. Many of us are so constituted that we can only do valuable work when we settle down for an uninterrupted six hours at a stretch. Clever boys can easily
be overtaught. Schooltime tables tend to be made so that they are divided into little blocks of forty minutes, hopping restlessly from one subject to another: a poor preparation for university or any other form of life. For this reason it is probably really true that while enthusiasm may be sparked off at school, the star pupils educate themselves in the holidays. There just is not enough time to try to do everything: some corners must be unfilled.
How far a school succeeds in catering for these needs is a matter of the utmost importance. It,is a side of education far too little discussed in the educational journals and at conferences. My suggestions assume some grasp of the three Rs before entry to the sixth form, and it is clear that a day school will find it more difficult to move as far beyond the syllabus as a boarding school. Nevertheless, if I were a parent seeking the best schooling for my child at sixth form level, I would think that the extent to which a school provides for these matters was at least as important as its record of 'A' level grades.
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