Friday, July 7, 2006

More British Boarding Schools

Another girls' school and a boys' school for slightly younger boys.

Monitress Merle by Angela Brazil

First, briefly, the plot: sisters Mavis and Merle attend a small boarding school that has both day students (like them) and boarders. The new headmistress decides to have the girls 2 elect monitresses and they vote for Mavis 2nd and Merle 3rd, but Merle really wants to be a monitress, so older Mavis gives up her position to Merle, who is actually a better candidate for the position. She is a good leader, organizer, and enjoys sports. The rest of the book is basically a series of episodes about the school throughout the year. There are also episodes of adventures with their friends. Merle ends up doing very well, showing not only straightforward leadership qualities, but also finesse, and eventually she is asked to be head girl for the following year.

This is an enjoyable book, if not profound. There is a good deal of description of the classwork, which is interesting to me. I think I might have actually enjoyed history if, as in the book, we had been required to act out sizable portions of it. There are quite a few "modern" ideas mentioned in connection with the classes. In a way, it is amusing to see them called modern. Some of those ideas would be considered "modern" today, too - more active, hands on projects, for example.

It is also interesting what the students do during their free time - hikes, nature collections, painting, plays, etc. What a contrast to how kids seem to spend their time nowadays. There seem to be more examples of initiative and self-directed adventures. It is a shame that considerations of safety have so altered the lives of young people.

And another thing I find interesting: cross dressing is always good for a laugh. Boys dressing up as girls seems to be particularly amusing - across times and cultures.


Jennings at School by Anthony Buckeridge

This book had me laughing out loud at the various predicaments. It isn't that they are so unusual - small boys misunderstanding fire drill instructions; the "dangerous" spider loose in the dormitory - but Buckeridge must have the key to my sense of humor. I can just SEE the boys, standing on their chairs in the middle of the room, hoping against hope that the dreaded poisonous spider won't get them before the teacher can get there to "save" them.

But, as funny as I found it, there was still a bit of something nagging at me - perhaps Jennings was a little TOO naive, a little too cutesy. I can't help but wish he had been a slight bit more clever at understanding things. Nonetheless, it is a thoroughly enjoyable book.


Further Comments

In several of these old time books, now I have seen what appears to be a recurring theme. The main character will do something that breaks a rule or hurts someone else and he or she feels obligated to confess the crime. That is pretty much normal in a lot of books, even current ones. But in these books, the criminal often tries desperately to confess the crime and it somehow thwarted. In fact, there are times when the authorities actively try to prevent the student from owning up to his or her mistakes. The idea seems to be, it is good to try to be honest, but it isn't good to be too honest. If the attempt at honesty is made, then the crime is forgiven, even if complete justice, i.e. punishment, isn't served.

Academics again: at the end of Monitress Merle, they take final exams. Merle comes out on top with something like 91 marks out of 100. It is interesting to me that, not only is this made public, but the exact score is given out, as well as the difference between that score and the next closest students. I can almost feel my current-day sensibilities cringe at this, but everyone in the story takes it in stride.

It is also interesting that the highest score on the exams was 91 marks out of 100 and the next highest was somewhere in the low 80s or upper 70s. I think teachers nowadays would be aghast at how low the scores were. Good scores in my daughters' school were 120% or some such number. This is one thing I have ranted about elsewhere. I think tests should have some head room. There should be required (not extra credit) parts of tests that make the student extend their knowledge and understanding in some way. That is why I prefer grading on a curve rather than grading strictly by percentages. Merle clearly deserves an A and the next highest students at least a B. But in many schools, even Merle would get a B (and they pride themselves on the fact that you have to get 93% to get an A at that school), and the next students would get only Cs.

But Mavis, who struggled with coursework, ends her studying at the end of the school year. She is now 17 and decides to devote her time to music and painting. There is no formal graduation, nor any despair at her not continuing. It is just felt that studying was too strenuous for her and that her time could be better spent doing other things. Nowadays there would be a big push to keep her in school, and I am thinking over whether that is better or not.

No comments:

Post a Comment