12. Have your boys any special dress for summer or winter? 58 No. 25 Introduce modifications in summer. Thus, in eight schools grey flannel suits are worn in summer; in fifteen schools the boys wear their flannels all day long in hot weather. In one school they wear their flannels all through the year, merely adding underclothing for cold weather. What do you consider the ideal dress for young boys? A Norfolk jacket (loose tweed is often specified), and knickerbockers is the dress which finds favour with most of the contributors. There are a very few supporters of the Eton dress (for Sundays this would, however, appear to be the usual dress), Rugby suits, French blouses, sailor suits, and even kilts. There is a preference for flannel shirts and Eton collars. One contributor emphasises the importance of white shady hats for summer. Several decline to offer an opinion; one is considering the possibility of inventing a suitable dress; one holds that "the ordinary mother is a good judge," an opinion with which many of us would probably be inclined to agree, whatever her shortcomings may be in the matter of "exeats" and of hampers. Do you insist on their changing into flannel for their games? 13. Have you a School "Grub Shop"? 18 Yes. 95 No. (The "Grub Shop" must be understood as including sales by matron or other school official.) Do you allow boys to go to such shops outside the school, and under what, if any, restrictions? The restrictions are :-- 69 No. 2 Yes, without restrictions. 39 Yes, with restrictions. i. Requiring each boy to obtain leave. ii. Appointing fixed hours, during which alone it is allowable. iii. Limiting the amount which may be spent. In eight schools an authorised "man with a basket" attends on fixed occasions. [The word "hamper" must be understood as meaning "delicacies supplied by parents."] These figures do not fairly reflect the balance of headmasters' opinions regarding the desirability of hampers. Several discourage what they do not actually forbid, and several limit the contents of the hamper to fresh fruit, plain cakes, jam, and other delicacies suited only to the tea-table. In twenty-three schools the contents of hampers are distributed as common property; this arrangement obviates some of the more serious objections to hampers, but it will be understood that boy-opinion may press uncomfort ably upon one who, owing to the strong views of an unconforming but otherwise sensible parent, fails to contribute to the common stock. One headmaster says: "They are a great nuisance, a source of bilious headaches and numerous other ailments," and the general impression conveyed by the answers is that headmasters feel that they are dealing with a foe that must be repressed, or, if irrepressible, must have its teeth drawn. The one school, in which "hampers, though allowed, are never sent," is distinctly abnormal. It is noteworthy that there are seventeen headmasters who are stalwart in the matter of "tuck" and refuse to admit it in any shape. Boys do not miss it, if they never see it; they do not need it, if the requisite amount of sweets is provided in the school diet. Last, but not least, a rule of rigid repression is less provocative of grumbling and vastly easier to carry out (experto credo) than one which admits compromises. Perhaps the following extract may seem fanciful, but I give it for what it is worth: "The boy's work, as shown by results, seems in inverse ratio to the amount of money he spends upon tuck." What number of meals do you consider necessary? ECONOMICS OF PREPARATORY SCHOOLS. No one acquainted with the present state of Education in England will question that the bulk of the Preparatory School work has fallen into the hands of private individuals and become a matter of private enterprise. With the advantages and disadvantages of this system it is not the purpose of this paper to deal. The question certainly admits of serious discussion. Whatever opinion, however, should be finally held, there can be no doubt that anyone who is likely to succeed in this branch of educational work must face the question of finance Courageously at the outset, and keep it constantly before his mind. A graduate, who gains a Public School Mastership with a desire to train himself as a teacher, is able to follow his bent to the utmost, with his literary instincts free from commercial fetters; and even when promotion lifts him to be a Housemaster or Head of a Grammar School, a few months experience will, in the majority of cases, enable him to master the financial routine which is incident to his new position. But with the Preparatory School Headmaster the question of finance is ever present, and he ought to realise from the first that he must give to it as much consideration as it receives from the successful man of business, though he must not expect the same gilded results. In the Preparatory School which is to command success in the present era of fierce competition the Head must be not only Teacher in school and Housemaster at other hours, but also an able Cashier, who can handle, distribute, and appraise at their true value the funds that are necessary to make his school as attractive and efficient as is possible. To realise the truth just stated, it will be well to consider how any teacher attains the position of Headmaster of a Preparatory School. He can either purchase the existing interest of some school; or he can set to work to create his own body of clients, this latter step being only possible if he can lock up some capital to maintain himself and his school till the clients are obtained. In each case some capital must be forthcoming, and our present point is to enquire how this capital can be said to be invested in such a way as to be remunerative. No one knows the value of his securities till he has tested them by quotation in the open market. Let us apply the same test to our Preparatory School capital. What bids are there for it? Plenty, surely, with such a large body of assistant masters eager to marry and start a school of their own. Numbers of these men are ready with capital up to a certain limit, but that limit is soon reached, as a Preparatory School is not such a sound basket that a careful man can afford to trust it with all his eggs. However, with such competition for our property, must not the basis of investment be thoroughly sound as regards Preparatory School capital? Such a demand must surely force up the price of the capital in use, and the price quoted to us will be good. Let us rest, and be thankful that our wives and children will have giltedged securities, should we be taken from them. Alas! for a foolish dream, a baseless fabric, that will fall and crush, instead of sheltering us. Money invested in a sound school can sometimes be realised at a profit, owing to the competition for a point d'appui; but money locked up for starting a school is as pure a speculation as can be found in the commercial world, and to appreciate this, one must reflect that the larger the capital invested the greater the probability of the school being attractive to the parents of pupils who may or may not come. Of course a great coup may be made, but the theory of chances is a basis of investment more popular with the stockjobber than the steady investor. Let us now examine the causes which impair the chances of gaining on the average more than a moderate return from capital invested in a Preparatory School. The drain on the turnover of Preparatory Schools is very severe, and this drain is partly justifiable, partly the reverse. The public demand very rightly expensive training and high intelligence in the teachers; schoolrooms of good design, and well equipped with efficient apparatus; domestic buildings of suitable construction, and well furnished with all the requirements of modern society. These needs are often costly, but are exacted with justice from those who profess to train the children of the upper classes. On the other hand, there is an unquestionable desire on the part of many parents to secure for their boys an amount of personal comfort and even luxury quite at variance with the standard of living which rightly prevails at the Public Schools, for which they are being prepared; and this tendency naturally leads on to a habit of allowing the choice of a school to be determined by minor details which are simply showy and superficial, ignoring the question of how the main requisites are likely to be supplied. The result of this must be that the Headmaster, who wishes to avoid suffering from competition, must indulge in expenditure which he considers quite unnecessary; for the health and comfort of his boys would be amply secured without it. And while he is called upon to pay more largely with one hand, he is often debarred from receiving what he considers his due with the other; for one result of fierce competition must always be that there are constant requests for a lower scale of fees, which only the very successful schoolmasters are able to resist; and it is best in any statement to deal with the average, and not the extreme at either end. The heart would require more than "as triplex" to be proof against a fair entreaty backed with a promise of several boys; but again the profits suffer. Are we not also living in times, when the unreasonable wishes of parents for the exceptional treatment of their sons have often to be gratified at great expense by the foster-parent? With all these possible items to set on the debit side, what percentage of profit may the Preparatory Schoolmaster expect on the average from his capital? It is more difficult than an outsider would imagine to state the average amount of this percentage. It is often assumed that for so many boys there is so much profit, and that the rate of profit is greater as numbers increase; but this is one of those dangerous half-truths which none but those who place themselves absolutely in the hands of an educational agent would venture to accept. The truth is that with most Preparatory Schools the profit is very uncertain, and the profit and loss account has to be carefully balanced before one can be certain of it. There are undoubtedly old established schools, the connexion of which is so wide, and well assured, that they are not called upon to incur the expenditure which is imperative in others. In the majority of cases, however, the public demand for changes in the style and equipment of schools varies so rapidly, according to the fleeting fashion of the hour, that the capital locked up at the start seems to need ever fresh accretions in the way of money laid out in improvements that are necessary, if the school is to remain attractive. As an instance of this constant drain the accounts of a large Preparatory School of over 100 boys show that during the last seven years there has been a turnover of £85,000, and yet a mortgage of £8,000 on the school still remains, in spite of the personal expenditure of the Headmaster being even less than moderate. In this case £45,000 is put down as the minimum cost of improvements. Another school with a turnover of £77,000 for the same period is debited with a capital expenditure of £30,000. In both these cases careful accounts have been kept. Another master of a successful day school speaks of a capital of £5,000 as having been needed to launch his school; while during twenty years he has spent quite £2,000 more in improvements. One hardly wonders that with such a laudable desire to keep his school efficient, he has not been able to pay off more than half the mortgage effected at the outset. While there is this growing need for making these additions to capital, while salaries mount up, wages increase, and rates multiply indefinitely, the average of fees obtained by Preparatory Schools is far less than it was ten years ago. It would not be far wrong to say that in those ten years profits have diminished by 25 per cent. It is fortunate for the British public who desire a good supply of Secondary Education in its elementary stage that SO much capital has been devoted from private sources towards furnishing this supply; for it cannot be questioned that they have obtained a splendidly equipped system. Let us now examine in detail the various forms of expenditure entailed by this system. When a young graduate leaves the University a mastership at a good Preparatory School offers him a very well paid post; his salary generally begins at £100 with board and lodging, and men who throw themselves into the work and make themselves useful and efficient can rapidly |