The Oxford Book of SchooldaysPatricia Craig Oxford University Press, 1994 - 430 pages `School', wrote Henry Green, `is no odder than the world outside, only more concentrated.' It is also an experience that everyone has to undergo, and many people have left accounts of their schooldays inspired either by repugnance or regret. The old school, whether you compare it to a Fascist state (as W.H. Auden famously did), a hothouse, a prison, or a place of lost content, remains with you for the rest of your life. Drawing on fiction, memoirs, autobiography, poetry, and letters Patricia Craig presents an enthralling selection of attitudes to schools and schooling. All manner of institutions are described, from village schools to state comprehensives, charity schools, public schools, private schools and grammar schools, with some (usually) fond reminiscences of primary schools for good measure. But the emphasis is on individual experience - on the playing field, in the classroom, making friends and enemies, encountering inspiring or eccentric schoolmasters. Pupils and teachers have their say, Miss Jean Brodie alongside Dr Arnold, Winston Churchill rubbing shoulders with Nicholas Nickleby. Through it all run the anarchic exploits of the heroes and heroines of the school story - Billy Bunter and the Greyfriars mob, Stalky and Co., William Brown, Tom Brown, and the creations of T.B. Reed and Angela Brazil. Ranging from the sixteenth century to the present day, and focusing on Great Britain and Northern Ireland, this anthology sheds incidental light on attitudes to children, educational systems, and the divisions of British society. It will strike a chord with every pupil, past or present, in revealing the glories and defects of British education. |
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Page 66
... father , who sent me off here to get a Balliol too . Do you know Barlitt ? ' ' His father's vicar of our village . It was because his son got a Balliol that I was sent here . ' ' Do you come from Crofton ? ' ' Yes . ' ' I've lived at ...
... father , who sent me off here to get a Balliol too . Do you know Barlitt ? ' ' His father's vicar of our village . It was because his son got a Balliol that I was sent here . ' ' Do you come from Crofton ? ' ' Yes . ' ' I've lived at ...
Page 212
... father's face her prophesy of my success , saying ' she'd be bound I shoud one day be able to reward them with my ... father and mother ; namely , Robert Hogg and Margaret Laidlaw . My progenitors were all shep- herds of this country ...
... father's face her prophesy of my success , saying ' she'd be bound I shoud one day be able to reward them with my ... father and mother ; namely , Robert Hogg and Margaret Laidlaw . My progenitors were all shep- herds of this country ...
Page 373
... father gave us a sound training in grammar , so that , even today , I have a mild shock when someone says : ' He ... father's teaching of geography consisted mainly of lists of names . I knew all the rivers of Britain , the cotton , the ...
... father gave us a sound training in grammar , so that , even today , I have a mild shock when someone says : ' He ... father's teaching of geography consisted mainly of lists of names . I knew all the rivers of Britain , the cotton , the ...
Contents
The World of School | 42 |
Customs Anecdotes Incidents | 88 |
At Odds with the System | 138 |
Copyright | |
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