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 15
... told him to ally himself to these young gentlemen , but he did so at an early age , and was sometimes made pitiably sick by an amount of beer which would have produced no effect upon a stronger boy . Ernest's inner self must have ...
... told him to ally himself to these young gentlemen , but he did so at an early age , and was sometimes made pitiably sick by an amount of beer which would have produced no effect upon a stronger boy . Ernest's inner self must have ...
Page 66
... told the curate , who told our curate , who told our vicar , who told my 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 ...
... told the curate , who told our curate , who told our vicar , who told my 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 ...
Page 182
... told by Herself , 1894 Rugby , October 27th 1837 My dear Sir , -You said when I had the Pleasure of seeing you at Rugby , that your Son wished to be considered as a Boy as long as he could , and was not impatient to be regarded as a ...
... told by Herself , 1894 Rugby , October 27th 1837 My dear Sir , -You said when I had the Pleasure of seeing you at Rugby , that your Son wished to be considered as a Boy as long as he could , and was not impatient to be regarded as a ...
Contents
Concerning Education I | 9 |
The World of School | 42 |
Customs Anecdotes Incidents | 88 |
Copyright | |
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A. S. Neill afternoon ANGELA BRAZIL asked better boys Brian Inglis bullying Bunter C. S. LEWIS called cane child church classroom colour cricket D. J. ENRIGHT David DENTON WELCH desk door E. F. BENSON English Eton eyes Faber face father feel fellow flogging football friends girls Graham Greene Grammar School H. F. Ellis hair hand head headmaster heard honour kind knew lady Latin lessons lives look master mind Mock Turtle morning mother MURIEL SPARK never Old School once parents play poor prefects public school pupils remember Reprinted by permission round scholars scholarship schoolboy schoolmaster seemed Smith Squeers stick stood street taught teachers teaching tell there's thing thought told TONY HARRISON took turned walk whole William words write young