Figure 1.-- We were indeed surprised at the limited facilities and often very stark living facilities at many school. This had begun to change in the 1980s, but classroom facilities and dorimotory accomodations at many schools were not infrequently stark. Many children had nothing more than an army cot and battered chair in dormitories with beds lined up in a row. The school here is a good example. |
There are a number of commonly held images about private schools in Britain. They tend to be widely held by the general public with no experience with private schools. The strength of these images in part stems from the fact that British schools, especially boarding schools, often were not very nice places. This image has certainly been perpetuated by the media. These images are not always consistent. One popular image is that children attending private schools were pampered and had access to much better facilities than children attending state schools. Another conception is that the schools are stark, unfeeling institutions and and a difficult experience, especially for younger children. Another conception is very strict if not draconian discipline. These unhappy images were not what we found when we visited the schools. There were schools that we would not want to send children, but these were the exceptions rather than the rule. What we usually found were well run schools with caring staff and happy children.
There are a number of commonly held images about private schools in Britain. They tend to be widely held by the general public with no experience with private schools. The strength of these images in part stems from the fact that British schools, especially boarding schools, often were not very nice places. This image has certainly been perpetuated by the media. These images are not always consistent. One popular image is that children attending private schools were pampered and had access to much better facilities than children attending state schools. Another conception is that the schools are stark, unfeeling institutions and and a difficult experience, especially for younger children. Another conception is very strict if not draconian discipline. Some also view these schools as unfriendly places where the younger children are bullied. These conceptions have changed over time. Some of the bleaker images of private schools are not all that unrealistic, at least in historical times. As late as the 1950s, many of these schools were not very happy places. An American reader writes, "It seems like there have been a lot of British novels about boarding schools that most Americans haven't heard of. I was aware of Tom Brown's School Days. I was also familiar with children's literary classics such as Lorna Doone. Most Americans get their impressions about British boarding schools from books like David Copperfield. By high school age, Americans may have seen movies like "Young Winston" or "If" or read memoirs by people like George Orwell. It is interesting to read here the actual conditions at these schools."
These unhappy images were not what we found when we visited the schools. There were schools that we would not want to send children, but these were the exceptions rather than the rule. What we usually found were well run schools with caring staff and happy children. Private schools varied greatly in the facilities they offered any many had more limited facilties than those offered at state schools. We were indeed surprised at the limited facilities and often very stark living facilities at many school. This had begun to change in the 1980s, but classroom facilities and dormitory accomodations at many schools were not infrequently stark. Most of the schools we visited were not like this at all. We did find a few schools that seemed less concerned with the needs of younger children than one would expect. The general pattern, however, was quite different. Most schools made a real effort to create a homey, caring atmosphere. As best we can tell, this was still very common through the 1950s. This was not the situation we found when we visited the schools. We noted happy, but well belhaved children that went about their daily activities with no real need for correction or certainly no corporal punishment. We have not doubt that unhappy school situations were once very common at these schools. This is not what we found at the schools we visited. We did find a few headmasters from the old school, but the great majority of headmasters we found were very concerned with making their school a well run and happy school.
