FAGGING IN ENGLISH SCHOOLS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume IX, Issue 48, 26 November 1892, Page 1162

FAGGING IN ENGLISH SCHOOLS.

Of fagging generally colonials can form some idea from the pages of Tom Brown ; but the extent to which it is permitted is very different at different public schools. Sidney Smith was unfortunate in chancing upon Winchester when it was in a very neglected condition, and he cordially hated the life of the school. Even forty years ago a writer upon the Winchester of that day could say with grief that a fag might have been called upon to do anything in the world except to make beds and to black boots. He was at the beck and call of some twenty senior boys at the head of the school, in whom were vested the general government and punishof the junior boys. This system, with modifications, prevails in all public schools, and though it has in particular cases been found to work badly, experience has, upon the whole, pronounced in * its favour. Three distinct advan-

tages — but there are many others—may here be noted. A little practical acquaintance with humbler duties, in which habits of carefulness and obedience must be exercised, is no bad commencement for a boy’s life in the small world of school. A little experience of the duties and responsibilities of authority is no bad preparation for a boy’s start into the larger world of life. And lastly, an open system of police on the part of the elder scholars is an admirable substitute for the vexatious interference of masters in the minor details of morals and behaviour. In this way the senior boys secure the respect of their juniorsand enjoy the confidence of their masters. And this further result follows—the public schoolmaster is as far removed as possible from the conception of an usher ; he is always, or at least with very rare exceptions, a gentleman, and often as well connected as any in the country. The effect of this upon the tone and style of the school is marked and beneficial.