BRITAIN'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 8, Issue 191, 19 February 1943, Page 3

BRITAIN'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Sir,--Your correspondents do not seem to know that Ralph Moore was recently appointed Head of Harrow School, Mr, Moore is a Wolverhampton Council School boy, and his higher education was won by scholarships. Harrow, whose pupils used to be drawn from the nobility and "gentry" now Pays proper respect to a "council school boy" who won his position bv sheer

merit.

R.

HEAL

Ahipara)

Sir,-Any question affecting tradition in these times, or any time for that matter, should be subjected to the most critical. examination. The public schools in England take for granted a traditional and therefore a static or backward look. The fact that they recruit their pupils from the privileged classes almost exclusively should make us pause before we accord them the value their supporters claim for them. These supporters often occupy the most lucrative positions in public life, Bruce Lockhart in his Retreat from Glory reveals how great a part attendance at a particular school plays in the selection of candidates for positions with a future, In general no opinion is worth much where self-interest is involved. Ask yourself the question, "Does the man stand to gain or lose by his advocacy?"

the benefit of a really good educa tion, or rather, the possibility for everyone of gaining it, should be open to all, poor and rich alike, and pending the arrival of the time when this becomes practicable, the rich should share the disabilities of the present form of semieducation, and each one depend apon his native ability to achieve prominence in public life and learn to use the pronoun "We" instead of "I" in talking of his usefulness, No sectional type of education should be countenanced.

J.

B.

(Wairoa),