HEADMASTERS
Sta,—The problem of education may be the problem of the teacher, but it is surely more essentially the problem of the headmaster. It hardly seems to be generally realised that today, in most schools, the office of headmaster is virtually that of a dictator, supported by a body of well- meaning educational amateurs—his Board of Governors—and surrounded by a group of somewhat sycophantic assistants, who, if they cannot respect the man, must respect his office. And this dictatorship is not of the Roman length, but for life, only limited by the retirement age. Hence we have the paradoxical situation that, in a democracy such as ours, we place practically unlimited power in educational matters in the hands of a person who may he appointed to this highly responsible post under very anomalous circumstances. There is, for example, the case of the highly-coloured party politician, whose politics disappear after his appoint- ment. There is also the curious phenomenon of the atmosphere of a school being radically changed in less than a week by the appointment of a new headmaster.
It might well be asked what steps are taken towards ensuring the appointment of a suitable person. The great headmaster is one of the rarest of human types. But he does emerge at odd times. Could some- thing be done to increase the chance for this emergence ? There is a simple expedient which might be tried. This would be to make the appointment of a headmaster like that of a Member of Parliament—for five years. There would be no loss of dignity if the principle were univer- sally accepted, and, dare I suggest?, made universal by Act of Parliament. Surely, to most assistants, it would be better to have headmastered and lost than never to have headmastered at all.—Xouis faithfully, EX-ASSISTANT MASTER.
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