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 168
... things , horrid things , went on which at an ordinary school would have been found out and stopped in half a term ; but at ... thing going cheap- nothing a rich man likes better than bargain prices . What was more , it got your trouble ...
... things , horrid things , went on which at an ordinary school would have been found out and stopped in half a term ; but at ... thing going cheap- nothing a rich man likes better than bargain prices . What was more , it got your trouble ...
Page 360
... thing . Okay . What time is it now ? Patrick looked at his watch . He wanted to get out and away . He needed to ... thing to the other . And oddly enough it really does have to do with transmigration and maybe even with certain taboos ...
... thing . Okay . What time is it now ? Patrick looked at his watch . He wanted to get out and away . He needed to ... thing to the other . And oddly enough it really does have to do with transmigration and maybe even with certain taboos ...
Page 363
... thing . And when in after years my schoolfellows who had won prizes and distinction for writing such beautiful Latin poetry and pithy Greek epigrams had to come down again to common English , to earn their living or make their way , I ...
... thing . And when in after years my schoolfellows who had won prizes and distinction for writing such beautiful Latin poetry and pithy Greek epigrams had to come down again to common English , to earn their living or make their way , I ...
Contents
The World of School | 42 |
Customs Anecdotes Incidents | 88 |
At Odds with the System | 138 |
Copyright | |
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