This book was a bit slow going at first, but I gradually warmed to it
and ended up enjoying it. The story focuses a bit less on the Fifth
Form than might be expected from the title. There was actually a
considerable portion of the story that focused on the younger brother of
Oliver Greenfield, Stephen. The other main character was Horace
Wraysford.
Now that I have read a number of these old
British school stories, I am coming to recognize their form and
character. The themes that are almost always present include sports,
pranks, academic competition, and some conflict with temptation,
wrongdoing, and honor. The structure of this tale was typical. We are
introduced to the older boys in the 5th form, some of good character,
some less so. Then we are introduced to the younger boys.
The
rivalry between the 5th form and the 6th form forms the focus of much
of the story, but the point of honor involves the younger boy, Stephen,
and one of the 6th form boys, Loman. Both of these boys get involved
with the local shyster, who, through careful manipulation of these two
manages to get both of them in debt beyond their abilities to pay. The
younger boy eventually must confess to his wrongdoing and things are put
painfully to right, rescuing his and his family's honor. The older boy
refuses to take that route and gets himself deeper and deeper in
trouble, until he has, at last alienated most of the people around him
and has lost all self-respect.
Another complication is
that Loman, Wraysford, and the elder Greenfield are all trying to get a
scholarship that is being offered. To get the scholarship, the students
must study specially for an extra exam that they must sit. Just before
the exam, the headmaster announces that one of the test papers has been
taken from his office. Since the elder Greenfield was seen leaving
the headmaster's office at about the same time the paper went missing,
he is suspected by one and all, including his best friend Wraysford.
His extremely high marks on the exam seem to confirm everyone's
suspicions, against which he does not defend himself.
I
liked the way the character of Oliver Greenfield was developed. It was
acknowledged that he was a somewhat difficult person, but the author
didn't try to make him gradually change into a more popular or outgoing
person. He remains somewhat aloof from the others, though, eventually,
they acknowledge their mistake with him and rectify it. Oliver has many
of the characteristics of a gifted child and it is good to see them
valued at they were in that system of education. And it is good to see
that he is allowed to be the person he is, with one close friend and the
rest at a bit more of a distance.
Something which is
not familiar to me as an American, used to our public school systems,
is this method of awarding scholarships. It seems that prominent
individuals endow these scholarships that students are allowed to
compete for. Most of the competitions involve sitting for an exam. Not
everyone has to take this exam, only those students who want to try for
it. Several exams in different areas were offered. The exams are
graded and the marks on them are publicly announced, not only for the
winner, but also for the others sitting the exam. When Loman gets an
unusually low score on the second of these scholarship trials, he is
even chastised for his poor showing. In the current atmosphere of
American schools, this simply wouldn't be done. And yet, the boys don't
seem to fall apart because of this method. Loman falls apart for other
reasons. His poor showing on the exam is the effect of his debts and
lack of honor, not the cause.
I think, actually, that
boys would do better in our current schools if we added back a bit of
academic competition. And the ranking system doesn't seem as disastrous
either as is currently thought. Teachers take great pains not to
compare kids these days, but I am not sure that works well for boys.
For me, it was fine, but I was a very compliant girl for most of my
school career. I think boys put forth more effort when it improves
their rank - both academically and in sports.
At any rate, as I said, I did end up enjoying the book.
No comments:
Post a Comment