Figure 1.-- Here the children are paying careful attention to the lesson being presented ny the master. |
|
The quality of instruction that we noted was impressive. The classrooms with the exception of a few beginning teachers were orderly and serious. There were no disruptive students ans the children were engaged and serious. Prep schools unabashedly focus their classroom time on the academic basics. The school day is longer than in the state schools. This varies somewhat by form level. The prep school teacher does not devote large periods of time to non-academic activities. Many state schools have programmed large blocks of time to non-academic activities. This has diluted the academic program with a range of "fun" or "feel good" activities. Some educators say that there is also a greater range of ability levels in the state schools than in the prep schools. Perhaps the greatest advantage that the prep school teacher has is that the behavior and motivation of the children. Some state school teachers have to expend considerable energy on a small number of troubled or disruptive children. The state school academic program is further diluted by the penchant of some educators to use the school to address anything that may be wrong with the society at large; violence, racial prejudice, drugs, ect. These are areas in which few schools have demonstrated the ability to successfully address. A further problem is that many state school teachers are inbuded in left-wing attitudes and have become susspious of rewarding clever or academically talented students or providing special prgrams or streammed approaches. Competition is often avoided in the state schools. The focus at prep schools is quite different. For the most part the parents of prep school children have reasonably disciplined them and made it clear that education is important. Academics is at the core if the orogram and there is no hesitancy in promoting competition and rewarding academic excelence.
The quality of instruction that we noted was impressive. The childrens achieve levels of literacy and numeracy well above those of comparable state schools. The chilldren leaving these schools can easily pass 0-Level exams taken by state school students at the secondary level by 16 year olds. The O-Levels were phased out at the end of the 1980s. They were replaced by the General Certificate of Education (CCE), A variety of informal and formal studies have documented the academic aschievements of these children. It is something the academic community, dominated by left-wing idealogues, do not like to admit or even discuss. But the results are all too obvious to the dispasionate observer. The children leaving these schools can write coherent sentences and spell and have mastered basic mathematics, achievemnents that eluded many graduates of British comprehensives (state secondary) schools.
There is no doubt that prep schools achieve superior results to state schools. The interesting question is why. Here there are several factors involved in the success of a school. It is difficult to isolate the relative importance. This certainly merits a serious academic study. It is onec that has not, however, been well addressed by the academic community, largely because the left-wing orientation of many education academics does not like the likely outcome of any serious study. We suspect that both the academic program and descipline are certainly key factors, but they certainly are not the only factors. .
A further problem is that many state school teachers are inbuded in left-wing attitudes and have become suspious of rewarding clever or academically talented students or providing special prgrams or streammed approaches. Competition is often avoided in the state schools. Ironically this is the opposite of academic programs in Socialist countries. The focus at prep schools is quite different. For the most part the parents of prep school children have reasonably disciplined them and made it clear that education is important. Academics is at the core if the orogram and there is no hesitancy in promoting competition and rewarding academic excelence.
