310 REPORTS ON THE STATE OP SCIENCE. — 1920. 



Still the Head's power goes a long way, and it is very few foolish parents who 

 seriously object to the prefect system. (In one or two cases only each year is 

 a, boy beyond the control of prefects.) 

 The prefect's chief weapon at Cowley is public opinion : 



This shows out most clearly in the houses. 



A boy transgresses (fumbles a ball in a house match or some other terrible 

 thing). The house-captain appeals to the house. Is the boy worthy of a 

 whacking ? The house decides — the boy is whacked. All the parent can say 

 against this system is that the house are bullies, but can forty boys be all 

 bullies ? The houee whackings are, therefore, in most cases fair, and become, 

 fis has already been said, the prefect's chief weapon. 

 Public opinion : 



Some prefects are liked very much — others are tolerated. Some are disliked. 



It is safe to say that most prefects are not disliked, and if a prefect is not 

 disliked then public opinion helps him. 

 Duties of a prefect : 



With these weapons a Cowley prefect sallies forth. No master challenges 

 his right. Masters teach and disappear. The prefects go in lessons and then 

 appear for duty in keeping the school in order, in arranging games, &c. But 

 no master interferes. Not even a house-master has much power in his own 

 house. A Cowley prefect has no masters to rival his authority. He can give 

 lines and whack (Only me ! T.B.) (when backed by public opinion or in 

 special cases). A boy, with the help of set captains, through the school, 

 manages the games. The prefects manage the drill (alone). Do not the prefects 

 then rule the school, and, as public opinion either supports or does not support 

 a prefect, then is not the school self-governed by the boys ? 



Pen.\rth County School ior Girls, Wales. 



(Written by a Girl at School.) 



The aim of self-government in school is an attempt to train the child as a 

 responsible citizen without taking away his delight in childish things. It is an 

 attempt to train him to be that type of child who will later on in life be a 

 self-respecting, responsible citizen, and, as such, it includes the true purpose 

 of education. 



It is impossible for any man or woman to be capable of controlling even a. 

 local committee if he has not been trained to think for himself and act as a 

 responsible member of society. If children are not made to think for them- 

 selves, if teachers and parents insist on doing all the directing and thinking 

 for them, they cannot expect that the child, when he grows up, will be capable 

 of looking after himself and his fellow-men. 



It is difficult in an ordinary county school to carry on self-government to a 

 ^reat extent, because external examinations demand so much time, and there 

 is a certain amount of work to be got through in a limited time. And the space 

 and means at the disposal of the Head-mistress are so limited that it needs clever 

 organising to be able to stray from the beaten track, but there is a certain 

 amount of experimenting possible even in the busiest school. 



Practically all that we have done originated in our English Composition 

 lessons, but to give a definite account of the gradual growth of self-government 

 in school is impossible. 



In IV. c and IV. b there is a Form Committee which is elected by the form 

 to manage all matters connected with the form. 



The III., V.B, and V.* have themselves arranged a programme of English 

 Composition lessons for this term, and every form has a chairman who is pre- 

 pared to take the class and direct affairs at any moment. The lessons are 

 varied and are all such as will increase the pupils' knowledge of and command 

 over the English language and literature, and will give them confidence to act 

 on their own initiative. It is significant that the younger girls soon got over 

 their shyness of facing a class and being caUed upon to give an ' Oral Com- 

 position,' but that older girls, who when working for examinations had little 



