Sunday, July 2, 2006

The White House Boys

I just finished reading the White House Boys by Robert Arthur Hanson Goodyear. It was first published 1957, at least that is the copyright date on the copy I have, so it is significantly out of date, but I think there are some interesting things to be observed about it.

First of all, there is the seemingly eternal class conflict - rich boys at a relatively elite boarding school; poor boys working in the coal pits. There are some quite outdated racial references, but essential conflict seems to pop up over and over again in human history. I don't think we will ever be free of it. And it is almost a cliche that there will be one disadvantaged boy who is really bright and helps the rich boys out and in turn the rich boys help him and both sides gain understanding. Too bad it generally has such a short term effect.

Then there is the emphasis on cricket. I don't think I will ever understand cricket and I must admit, I skimmed over a good deal of the description of the cricket matches. I suppose even long descriptions of cricket matches could be fascinating to someone who understands it, but, sigh, that does not include me.

Another aspect that I found interesting was the number of pranks the boys played on each other and the taunting and name calling that was expected and tolerated. It seems like, as a teacher, I am all too frequently called to referee incidents of teasing and name calling. I don't like them, but I also think that kids today are somewhat thin skinned. I don't mean we should tolerate actual bullying, physical or emotional, but I think there was a good deal of taunting and teasing that a) is normal and can't be eliminated anyway and b) serves a purpose in establishing group membership and solidifying friendships.

But, the most interesting part to me is the part that was actually not elucidated as much - the academic competitions. The boys could choose to try for a certain prize - the reward was a large number of books. To gain the reward, they had to write a paper on general knowledge, which was judged by an outside person. And then there were the normal academic awards. At each grade level, there were awards in each subject, taken by only a few of the boys. Nowadays, we seem to consider that completely anathema to the public school (USA) mentality. I can't imagine schools giving awards to the top reading students, the top math students, the top social studies students, the top science students, etc. Sure, we have geography bee winners, spelling bee winners, even math competition winners, but these are generally short term contests, like the paper the boys wrote. It is somewhat different to have their everyday school work ranked. And it is interesting to see what effect it has on the boys. Some work much harder to achieve their rank, others, who aren't really in the competition, don't seem bothered by it. But, I think in general, the perception in this book is that academic competition is expected and the way things should be.

The next book I am going to read is about a girls school of the same era. Before I get into it too far, this is what I expect: there will be less emphasis on sports, the pranks girls play will be less physical and more psychological, there will be one girl who is an outsider who somehow gains acceptance of the group. Academically, I am not sure. I don't know if girls are as motivated by competitions, nor as nonchalant about them if they aren't the caliber that has a chance to be a winner. But this is a different era and a different country.

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