Figure 1.--Prep school boys before the 1970s never would have brought their teddies and other stuffed animals to school. They would have been teased for being a baby. The proliferation of these little creatures in modern schools is an easily observable relection of the changing atmpshere. |
Happily, preparatory schools have significantly changed for the better in the past 25 years in this area. There seems to be a kinder, gentler atmosphere at many schools. Headmasters and their wives at successful schools invariably make great effort to meet the emotional needs of the children entrusted to their care. Most now stress their homely atmosphere and like to have pictures in their prospectuses of the head and his wife (and perhaps their children) often surrounde by pupils in a cosy sitting room. We note earlier prospectuses in which the children were all cleared out of classrooms and dormitories before they were taken. Clearly the children were not at the center of what was important. Now the schools seek to stress that their school is a happy school with a homey environment. There are usually many references to "pastoral care" of pupils. This by far is the most important change made. This is not to say that prep schools did not exist earlier with kindly staff. It is to say that this was not a major priority at many early schools.
