Figure 1.--This prep school boy in the early 1980s is deep in thought as he is working his way through a difficult class assignment. Another boy was first to come up with the answer, but it was not for lack of attention on this boy's part. Note the slightly updated traditional school desks. |
Many of our HBC personal experiences are written accounts submitted by HBC readers. We also include images which also provide fascinating personal glimses. For these images we can often only try to assess what is occuring or the student in question is thinking. Nevertheless they provide useful contast to the otherwise mostly written accounts.
We have two discriptions of this classroom scene from an English prep school in the early 1980s.
A reader writes, "Indeed, this print has a certain charm. I tend to look for the story in each photograph and try to determine the character of the subject(s). This particular boy seems shy and tense compared to the apparently relaxed, 'legs out' posture of his colleague behind him. I noticed that he has scrunched his fingers together. Is he 'white-knuckle' concerned that he's unable to understand the content of the book in front of him? Is he embarrassed knowing that all eyes are on him at the moment? Or is he just cold? - (shoulders hunched, knees pointing inwards, wearing a pullover, cold desk seat, overcast sky, etc.) What's written on the 'post-it' sticker attached to his briefcase? Does he bang his head on his colleague's cluttered 'desk tidy' each time he leans back? His desk looks a bit too big for him - does he get aches and muscle cramps using it? Those black marks on the radiator - are they black paint from a bolt of a desk frame accidentally scrapped against it?"
Another reader writes, "I'm enchanted by this photograph of the boy studying and nervously wringing his hands under the desk in concentration. It is a beautiful image of a British school boy."
Prep schools by the 1980s had become much more relaxed about the uniform. Many schools, like this one, did not require ties during the school day. They did put their ties on with their blazers when going and coming to school. Caps were much less common. Note the trim on the boys' kneesocks. Many schools also had jumpers which repeated the trim colors. This school had blue jumpers and short trousers. Most schools continued to use grey. Books bags by the 1980s had given way to attache cases.
A French reader comments, "This is a beautifull school image, rather like the enchanting school photographs of Robert Doisneau during the 1950s. A similar French image would be somewhat different. The desks would be a different model. French school regulations about desks are very strict. In the all school we find the same model. The boy it seems to me has a French attitude, but his hair-cut is with a middle part. A french boy would more commonly have a left part, sometimes a right part. A french boy would have had kneesocks if he was at a private school, in this case his kneesocks would be in formal color--dark or grey. At a public school, kneesocks were usually worn only during the colder months."