PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18894, 8 January 1927, Page 19

PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

BOYS FROM OVERSEAS. SUGGESTION DISCUSSED. l?20K crs O~X COSiESSOCTSST-) LONDON, November 30. Dr. Kendall and Dr. Cyril Norwood have, in letters to "The Times," made the of introducing young men temporarily into Dominion school* as i J ublic School masters.

-Mr R. G. L. Austin, ot Bournemouth, lias in mind a different idea namely, that the Headmasters Conference might well discuss the question oi helping the Dominions by accepting the principle of reserving eaca year a limited number of places tor boys from the Dominions. It would, ol course, be understood that candidates from the Dominions would conform in every way to the standard required bv headmasters of the public schools. If the public schools would each reserve one place a year tor a South African boy, it would meet the present difficulty This would be extending to the public schools a system that is alreaay in existence in the case of the Navy and Army, tie is encouraged to make this suggestion by the memory of words spoken to him b> Lord Milner when he visited Mr Austen's school in December, expressed his conviction of the imperial value of sending future citizens of the Dominions to be brought upi in the great tradition of the public schools. D Mr Austin further says: Dr. Kendall and Dr. Norwood aim at transplanting to the Dominions the ideals and traditions of the public schools, and as one who has been a schoolmaster in South Africa for many years 1 am in hearty agreemen' with the object they have in view. But I do not think that either suggestions offers the best solution. A young man fresh from school or fresh from the university cannot be expected in strange surroundings, and in the short time suggested by both writers, to leave any real mark. A migratory system must be unsettling not only to the schools but t" the men themselves. The writer is the headmaster of a preparatory school in South Africa, which prepares boys for admission to the nuhlic schools, and at the present moment over 50 bovs from thjs school are spread over _ the public schools. My recent experiences, however. show that it is likelv to become a matte r of extreme difficultv for boys from the Dominions to secure admission to the nnblio schools. I do not that this is the result of any exclusive spirit, but the direct_ consequence of lontr waiting lists while parents in the Dominions are seldom able to decide so far in advance to send | their boys overseas." Lord Methuen follows the correspondence, placing especial importance on Mr Austin's letter, because during his own four years as Commander-in-Chief in South Africa he had the opportunity of observing the admirable manner in which Mr Austin conducted his school, and often discuss. ' the best means for bringing the Dominions and English public schools together. "We see the excellent results that have shown themselves by the introduction of Rhodes scholars into the University of Oxford," write 6 Lord Methuen, "so I believe the results would be the same by the introduction of boys from the Colonies into our public schools. The same assistance could be given to them as is now given by the University to Rhodes scholars. I can only speak, as does Mr Austin, of the good effects which would be produced in South Africa if our public schools would act in the manner proposed by Mr Austin." The Rev. Le. Dove, formerly headmaster of Wanganui Collegiate School, writes:— "The letters of Sir Austin and Lord Methuen advocate the habit of sending boys of 14 from the Dominions to English public schools, Of course, this is done now in many instances, and the public schools do all they can to welcome such bovs; hut it n habit to be widelv encouraged, and does not touch the problem which Dr. Rendall and Dr. Cyril Norwood are attacking. I write with experience of schools both in England and New Zealand. Is it a good thing that a boy from 14 to 18 years should be separa+ ' for that time from his home? I thin'' ''ml the negative answer is certain, and especially so when the boy is to return home for his life's work. He will tlwe need school friends and that dee'i rooting in the ways of his country, which those years will give him. It must be owned that the habit is unlikely to become general, because few parents in the Dominions can afford to send a son to an English public school; but anything that they can afford would be better and more wisely spent in sending a young man of 19 to an English university. This will do far more to link the Empire, nnd may help to solve the real problem of how to staff the Dominion schools so as to spread abroad the best public school traditions."