Alternatives to the Public Schools
By J. L. PATON Faom time to time the Public Schools have to render account of their stewardship. Any nation that cares for its youth must held its schools to account. The boys who are the special charge of the Public Schools are the sons of the privileged and monied class who look forward to posts of high responsibility and direction. The office of the Public Schools is to provide the " complete and generous education which fits a man to perform justly, skilfully and magnani- mously all the offices, both private and public " which belong to the leadership of society. It is natural and right that England should demand the very best from them.
The two books which lie before us challenge the fitness of the Public Schools for the discharge of their function. Cecil Reddie formulated his challenge in a series of questions Why is the intellectual development of a boy measured solely by his individual skill in excelling his fellows at a competitive examination ; whereas on the playing-field he is taught team work " ? Why is the religious teaching at Sunday chapel wholly divorced from the weekday work in the class-room ? Why is the physical development of a boy measured solely by his prowess at cricket and football—ephemeral pastimes that teach him nothing of the manual labour he will be called upon to organize and direct in after-life ? Why is the teaching of sex forbidden, and any boy who seeks to probe its mysteries expelled ? Reddie's own thought-out answer to these questionings was embodied in a new- School called Abbots- holme which he founded in 1889.
The next forty-one years comprising the remainder of his active life arc summed up in the word Abbotsholme. The author, Mr. B. M. Ward, as an Old Abbotsholme boy, writes with that inside knowledge which alone can do justice both to the school and its founder. He shows us the pioneer School as a nurse of manly virtue, with its morning cold tub and run through the grounds, with its em- -bargo on hampers and tuck. The conventional cricket and football are played only twice a week : the other afternoons are given up to work in the woodshop, or on the estate, harvesting and other farm work, road-making, building the pavilion, excavating the skating-pond and so forth. " The duty of an Abbotsholme boy is to become a man," a man must learn to fend for himself and be handy on a man's job. In all these activities Reddie himself and his staff are with the boys. Comradeship is the great instrument of moral training ; all dignity that interferes with comradeship or freedom of inter- course between senior and junior must go by the board, for it is a barrier. There are no prizes, for there is too much already in modern society to stimulate the self motive, and there must be co-operation in class as well as in games and farm work. The question of sex is faced openly. Boys are taught the true facts as to their coming into the world and of the new inward experiences which come to them in the years of puberty : and so they are saved from the false teaching of others, who have neither knowledge nor reverence. The Chapel is the.place for art, picture and sculpture, for music and sacred drama. Passages are read from poetry and the writings of prophets, modern as well as ancient, the worship of Christ is linked up with Socrates, Brahma and Buddha.
Mr. Ward's account of Abbotshohne proves how right Cecil Reddie was in building his own. Jerusalem in England's green and pleasant land. His new model was so radically different in idea and aim from the schools existing in 1889 that it had Reddie of Abbotsholme. By B. M. Ward. (Allen and Unwin. 10s. 6d.) Progressive Schools, their Principles and Practice. By . L. B. Pekin. (Hogarth Press. 6s.) to be incorporated in a new venture. The new Jerusalem had its ups and downs, but at any rate it proved itself a workable proposition, not too high for human nature. Its numbers never exceeded eighty, but many of Reddie's ideas, as he ex- pounded them in 1889, seem to us as we read them today such elementary common sense that one becomes aware how they have been consciously or unconsciously absorbed into the common practice of today. But one becomes also aware of how much remains to be done in regard to sex instruction, agricultural work, natural living and, above all, the competi- tive atmosphere that dominates the class-work of all our British schools.
Many of Reddie's ideas have found their fulfilment, not only for boys of the Directing class, but for all British boyhood in the Scout and Rover training. Abbotsholme still thrives stronger than ever, but not many schools in Great Britain are run on the Abbotsholme model. German teachers, on the other hand, were quick to see the vital value of his ideas. Dr. Hermann Lietz, who was on the Abbotsholme staff in the early years, wrote an account of the new school for the German public and founded Ilsenburg on its model. Over twenty schools, embodying the same principles have been founded since and acknowledge Reddie as their " Grossvater." Some of these, it is worth noting, are co-education schools. M. Edmond Demolins, who wrote " A quoi tient la superioriti Ang,laise ?" was the pioneer in France. France has six " new schools," Switzerland nine, U.S.A. eighteen. Reddie him- self had studied at a German University and was a great admirer of German thoroughness and teaching skill. He was quick to see the sense of duty which animated all classes of the community, and his scheme for Abbotsholme sought to combine these essentially German qualities with the spon- taneity, love of sport and self-reliance of English boyhood, Two years ago Mr. Pekin, who had been a master at one of the public schools came out from among them and told England what he thought of them in his book, Public Schools, Their Failure and Their Reform. Since then he has been teaching in a " Progressive School " without punishments, without marks or prizes or any form of competition, without cap and gown, without any definite end in view except to allow each child to develop, like a flower, according to the law of its own inherent nature.
Mr. Pekin brings us face to face with co-education. lie assumes that all public schools are against it, which is not the case. The serious matter is that ev 'Indy is in the dark as to this fundamental question. All sorts of articles and hooks are written. The Board of Education takes a decided line against it. But, so far as I am aware, there has been no attempt at any scientific investigation of the subject. (h) -one side of the Atlantic co-education is the regular practice• On the other, boys and girls are educated apart. There is no lack of data. One would imagine that it should be paqs;ble to crystallize out some definite conclusions. Not at all. The Consultative Committee were instructed to examine into the differentiation of curriculum for the two sexes, but the previous question as to whether the sexes should be educated together they have never been allowed to investigate. Here is a well-known book beginning, " This book is frankly 10 favour of co-education " ; that is to say, the book is written to prove a point rather than to make a dispassionate inquiry• It is the same with all. There is any amount of opinion on the subject but precious little evidence. Meanwhile, no practical administrator will begin admitting girls to Eton or Rugby until he has some assured scientific evidence on which to act.
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