The number most frequently given is 12, and this would allow one such match in each week of the term. (b) In football (or hockey). 17 schools play no such matches. 28 schools play fewer than 6. 6 schools play from 13 to 20. Here again 12 is the number most frequently given. In the cases of several of the schools, which play no matches, it is explained that this is due to no voluntary abstinence, but to the fact that there are no similar schools in their neighbourhood. Indeed, there is no indication of any feeling that such matches stimulate the athletic interest to a degree that is considered undesirable; the figures, however, seem to imply that there may be some connection between these matches and the employment of the professional cricketer. Some contributors express very emphatic objection to the employment of the professional in a Preparatory School, and with this many of us would sympathise. According to our view it is a step in the wrong direction to delegate to a third-rate professional a task which the Preparatory School school staff should be perfectly capable of performing with all requisite efficiency and with by-products that are invaluable. In fact, to us the employment of a professional would seem to be an indication either of a deficiency in the composition or spirit of the staff, or of an excess in the estimate formed concerning the standard of proficiency to be aimed at. Three contributors explain that, in spite of their preference for the Rugby rules, they are forced to adopt the Association in order to secure matches for their boys. Question 14. To which of the following views (as referring to Preparatory Schools) do you incline? (a) The full benefit of cricket has been attained when boys play in the right spirit, and with sufficient skill to fully develop all the interests of the game. (b) Cricket, if worth teaching at all, should be taught with a view to develop the highest skill of which the pupil is capable. It was not easy to word this question. The intention was to state without prejudice the views of two different schools of opinion, and as such the majority have accepted it. A few, however, have adopted both views, recognising no antagonism, and perhaps it would be fairer to include these among the supporters of (6), in which case the numbers would be: According to (a) there is a point, and by no means a low one, at which we may say that sufficient skill has been developed to enable the players to enjoy all the essential interests of the game and derive all its advantages, provided that they play fairly, unselfishly, and, according to their lights, with all their might. Enough is as good as a feast. The other view (6) 4333. 2 A would deny the existence of any such point for players capable of higher skill and would regard the benefits of the game as more or less proportionate to the proficiency af the players. There is no more finality than there is in violin-playing-in both cases the teacher's aim should be the highest. Collecting the arguments, so far as they are given, we find that the supporters of (a) consider that rather too much stress is laid upon matches, too little upon the recreative advantages of games; cricket is a means and not an end in itself; we do not wish to train a race of professionals; every boy should have the same amount of coaching, it is bad for a young boy to be put forward at the expense of others; there is a danger just now in Preparatory Schools that () may interfere with the higher interests of school life. The supporters of (b) consider that a high standard of individual excellence must be set in order to secure the attainment of (a); also that a boy should be made to realise that whatever he puts his hand to he should do with all his might. So brief a statement of the two sides of the question is manifestly insufficient for any real discussion of its merits, but we may accept the result, which the figures show, as roughly, yet fairly representing the balance of opinion on a subject which each headmaster must necessarily have thought out for himself. Question 15. Is it your personal opinion that athletic interests are stimulated to an unnecessary degree at our Public Schools and Universities? Yes - 59 Many contributors have expressed themselves forcibly and interestingly on this question, but it would be out of place to put forward their arguments, as a discussion would be outside the limits of our subject. It may safely be said that all are staunch supporters of school games, and recognise a strong and healthy athletic feeling as a condition of wholesomeness in the atmosphere of Public School society. The question is whether in the present day this feeling has been developed beyond the necessary point, and has thus become an evil in itself; and it is not outside the limits of our subject to ascertain the several judgments of the headmasters of the Preparatory Schools. They are men who almost without exception have themselves passed through the Public Schools and Universities, they are naturally deeply interested in educational questions, and more particularly in those connected with the Public Schools, to which they are so closely linked. The judgment which they form, quite apart from its value as an academical opinion, has a very direct bearing upon our subject, inasmuch as it gives us a clue to the principles, which may be expected to so far actuate them in their own several schools, where their authority is autocratic. It is evident that the fifty-nine head masters, who consider that too much importance is assigned to athletics and to the successful athlete in our public schools, may be relied upon to discourage such excess in their own schools. On the other hand, it would be unfair to infer that the forty-two, who have expressed a different judgment, would take an opposite course; for many of the latter have based their opinion upon their regard for the exigencies of public school life, and would recognise that such exist only in a very minor degree at the preparatory school. Question 16. If you have a heated swimming bath, what is its length, breadth, and minimum depth of water? Question 17. What percentage of boys leave your school unable to swim? Ten schools (out of a total of 108) possess heated swimming baths of their own. As a rule, the length of these is about 11 yards, the breadth about 5 yards, and the depth such as would enable a non-swimmer to stand at the shallow end. The smallest, described as a plunge bath, is 16 feet long, 6 feet broad, and 5 feet deep, and it is interesting to learn that it serves its purpose, for in all these ten schools the average of non-swimmers is less than one per cent. Twenty-one schools have the use of public baths, which presumably are heated, and at these schools the average of non-swimmers is eleven per cent. Five schools have private swimming baths, which are not heated, and the average of non-swimmers is 5 per cent. Of the remaining seventy-two schools, several reach a very high standard in swimming; the large majority however assess their estimates of non-swimmers at figures varying between ten and eighty per cent., or else have omitted to hazard a conjecture at all. In four or five cases swimming baths are spoken of as recently constructed or unfinished; and from this we may infer that the value of them is being increasingly recognised. Question 18. Do you allow your boys to play golf, play fives, ride or cycle (i.) during the hours of ordinary games? (i.) at other times? Of the 121 contributors who have answered these questions 99 do not allow any of these recreations to interfere with the organised school games. 39 allow golf to be played at some time in the course of the day. 58 allow fives to be played at some time in the course of the day. 53 allow riding (usually for the purpose of lessons). 63 allow cycling, but 24 of these restrict cycling by limitations; in several schools boys are not allowed to cycle except in the company of a master. 4333 2 A 2 THE EMPLOYMENT OF LEISURE HOURS IN BOYS' BOARDING SCHOOLS. SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. Introduction. A glance at Schools in the Society of Friends. Leisure Hours in one of these Schools: Spring, Summer, Autumn, the Christmas Exhibition, Extracts from Diaries. Environment needful for the healthy growth of Leisure Hour pursuits. Deductions from experience: effects of these pursuits on education, direct and indirect: spontaneity: loafing: fickleness. Appendix: Questions asked of correspondents. Scholars and Teachers. Answers from old 2A 3 4333 |