Children and teachers

Press, 25 October 1982, Page 12

Children and teachers

Sir,—Good old education, Mr Anderson? I quote Richards and Hunt, “Modern Britain": “If the Duke of Wellington said that the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton, he was referring not to organised games but to unorganised fights." “In 1818 a revolt at Winchester College was quelled by two companies of troops with fixed bayonets." In 1862 payment by results meant Government grants depended on examinations by inspectors. “The system encouraged soulless drilling, parrot-like learning by heart and even downright trickery." “A book held upside down” sometimes betrayed rote learning, and there was a "carefully prepared code of signs between teacher and pupils." School life before 1897 was a “hated memory for hundreds and thousands of hapless youngsters.” Immediately after compulsory education in 1891 "discipline

was harsh, punishment frequent, and relations between teacher and pupil often hostile; indeed teachers sometimes found it inadvisable to go home alone." — Yours, etc., B. ROBERTS. October 22. 1982.