THE SCHOOL AND THE VILLAGE
SIR,—I was glad to find in Mr. Edwards's article some corroboration of our own local experience. He said: " When the London children arrived during the evacuation period their scholastic deficiencies confirmed the villagers in the high opinion of their school." In this village we housed two lots of children. The first lot came mostly from Bristol ; the second from the southern outskirts of London. Neither group equalled our local scholars either in taught subjects or general knowledge. In fact, we regarded the great majority of them as backward children. While the London children were attending our village school an event happened which showed us that our visitors were not below the London standard. Scholarship examinations were held. To the consternation of our head- mistress two London boys wished to sit. In fact, both were awarded scholarships. Their standard of work was much below that of several of our local children who failed to gain a Devon scholarship. Now the Bristol and London children had both attended schools of goo to boo scholars. It is exactly that style of school which the education authorities seek to establish throughout England in substitution for the smaller local schools, which have amply proved their efficiency.—Yours faithfully,
Previous page
