THE PERFECT HEADMASTER

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 60, 4 December 1920, Page 11

THE PERFECT HEADMASTER

ESSENTIAL DETAILS. At the recent gathering in the Town Hall in honour of Mr. J.. P. Pirlh, the retiring hendmnster of the Wellington Colleire. Mr. 0. T. .T. Alpers. of Christchurch. commenced his tersely-construct-ed and w : tty speech by referring aptly to the dedication of lan Hay's charming novel, "The Lighter Side of School Life," and quoted it:— . To the members of the most responsible, the least advertised, the woTst paid, and the most richlylownrded profession in Iho world. The speaker's object in quoting the foregoing dedication lay in relntiou between the meaning of the last line, and tho evening's gathering. Ju6t over the gago Mr. Hay gives, in clear-cut terms th# essentials of a good headmaster:— "What nre the characteristics of a great headmaster? Instinct at once prompts us to premise that ho must, be a scholar and a yontloman. A. gentleman he musk ijßdoubtedly bo; but nowfl4rj» Mgh, oVftst&wi

■=hip—ia a hindrance rathor than a help. To supervise the instruction of modern youth a man requires something more than profound learning; ho must possess savoire faire. If you set n great scholar—and a great scholar has an unfortunate habit of being nothing but a great scholar—in charge of the multifarious interests of a public school, you are setting a razor to cut grindstones. As well appoint an Astronomer Royal to command nn Atlantic liner. He may be on terms of easy familiarity with tho movements of the heavenly bodies, yet fail to understand the right way of dealing with refractory stokers. "A headmaster is too busy a personage to keep his own scholarship tuned up to concert-pitch: and if ho devotes adequate time to this object—and a scholar mnst practice almost as diligently as a, pianist or an acrobat if he is to reiryi.in in the first flight—he will have little leisure left for less intellectual Titri eoually vital duties. Nowadays in great public schools that, head, although he probably takes tho sixth for an hour or two a day, delegates most of his work ill this direction to a capable and up-to-date fresb vonng man from the university. and devotes Ms energies to snch trfliug' details as the organisation of school routine, the supervision of the cook, the administration of justice, the diplomatic handling' of the governing bodv, and the suppression of parents. "So fftr, then, i<;e are all agreed—the great advantage of dogmatising in print is that one can take the agreement of the Trader for granted—that a headmaster must be a gentleman, but not necessarily a , scholar. !in the highest sense of the word. What other virtues must he possess? Well.- he must be a maiestic figure-head. Thi? is not bo difficult as it sounds. The dignity which doth hedge a headmaster is so tremendous that the dullest and fussiest of tho race can hardly fail to be impressive and awe-inspiring to the nlr.'-K" n"»>d nf youth. More than one King Log ha? left a name behind bin', tlirougn standing still in the lime-light and keeping his mouth shut. But. then hs was probably lucky in his lieutenants.

"Next, he must have a sense of humour. If ho cannot seo the entertaining, side of youthful depravity, magisterial jealousy, and parental fussin&ss, ho will undoubtedly go mad. A sense of humour. too, will prevent him from malting a fool of himself, and a headmaster vmsl never do that. It also engenders tact, and tact is the essence of life to a man who has to deal every day with the ignorant and the bigoted, and the sentimental. Not that all humorous people aro tactful ; bitter experience of the practical joker has taught us that. But no person can be tactful who cannot seo the ludicrous side of tilings. . . . He must, of course, lie a ruler. Now, you may rule in two ways—either with a rapier or a bludgeon, but the man who can gain his ends with the latter will seldom have recourse to the former. The headmaster who possesses on the top of other essential qualifications the power of -being uncompromisingly and divinely rude is to be envied above all nthcra. 4 For him lifo is full of short cuts. He never argues. "L'ecoio, e'est moi," he growls, and no one contradicts him. Boys idolise him. In Jus presence they are paralysed with fear, but away from it they glory in his fierce ferocity of mien and strength of arm. Masters ravo impotently at his brusnnerie and absolutism, but A savs secretly to himself: 'Well, 't's a treat to see the way tho old man keeps B and C i;;> to the collar.' As for parents they refuse to face h'm. which is the head and summit of what a master desires of a parent."