364 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 
“The Society is so called in order to bring it into some sort of relation 
with the Cavendish Club or Association, which is once more being brought 
before the notice of boys leaving School. It is composed of ten or twelve 
of the elder and abler boys interested in social questions, with a boy as 
Secretary and a master as President. It is a purely voluntary Society, and 
the design is to make it as much as possible a Boys’ Society and as pleasant 
as possible, so that besides the President there is seldom more than one 
master present, and the proceedings are informal, and always begin with tea. 
The object is two-fold : (1) To gain some sort of knowledge of the historical 
background to the present state of affairs; and (2) to investigate scientifically 
the simpler economic and industrial problems of to-day and the remedies 
proposed. The Society is, of course, non-party, and to avoid the chance or 
suspicion of propagandising the Society seldom meets at the same master’s 
house twice running, and seldom has the same master as a guest twice running. 
Where possible, the papers introducing the discussion are prepared by boys . 
Some of the subjects of discussion have been: The Manorial and Guild Systems 
of the Middle Ages, the Industrial Revolution, England 100 Years Ago, the 
Railway Strike, the Sankey Commission; we have also held a discussion with 
some Bolshevistic Trade Unionists, and with a model employer from the North. 
Plainly the Society touches only a very few boys; but the idea is that in 
the end it does far more good to get a few able boys really interested than 
a large number at best slightly edified. 
‘T know one sure way of sickening boys of Civic Duties, and that is to 
have a lesson called ‘‘ Civies.’”’ -Any teacher of History who is worth anything 
of course works it in incidentally. ... The greatest lever of all ought to 
be the College Mission. At Whitsuntide we are going to make a real effort 
that way to let the College see and get to know its Mission boys. 
‘As in all other schools of our type with which I am acquainted, every 
House is largely self-governed. I believe the system works admirably, and 
produces both for peace and war the type of citizen the Empire needs. 
‘TI think it possible to detect a much more serious tendency in the thought 
of the average schoolboy of to-day; he recognises that cricket and football 
are not the only things that matter. In my opinion, the one thing we have 
to impress on the boy beyond all else is that privileges connote duties, and 
I feel sure that most boys are quite willing to believe this. It can be brought 
home to them out of School as well as in School, and perhaps even more vividly 
in the playing-fields than in the classroom.’ 
10 ‘. . . The Civies Class, a voluntary class intended for boys in their last 
year here and for a certain number of others, meets once a week. Membership 
of it is voluntary, though when once a boy has joined he must attend regularly 
throughout the term. Lectures are given by masters and sometimes by persons 
outside, such as the Master of Balliol and the Warden of Toynbee Hall, who 
were down last term, on various subjects such as the History of the Trade 
Union Movement, Capital and Labour, Education, Housing, and so forth. 
These classes serve a very useful function, and are always as full as the 
conditions permit.’ 
11. ‘There are no definite lessons in the middle part of the School. History 
and Geography are, however, given a distinctly ‘‘imperial’’ bias... . My 
experience at Winchester in the days of Father Dolling leads me to consider 
a ‘‘ live’ School Mission as easily the first agent in developing a right spirit 
among Publie School boys. 
‘Political subjects are treated (a) in set lessons to the Sixth Form; 
(b) in the Essay Society which meets once a month. . . . I believe myself that 
social duty is best inculcated by inspiration; in the Chapel sermons and... . 
by addresses to the elder boys from such men as Prof. Zimmern, Alexander 
Paterson, Albert Mansbridge, and Canon Temple.’ 
12. ‘ Knowledge and interest in the subject is gained by sermons, lectures, 
essays. and perhaps. most of all by practice. Each House here has an “ allot- 
ment ’’ as a reminder of the urgency of the food problem. The food is sold 
to the College, and the proceeds given to local charities.’ 
13. ‘The members of the Sixth Form write an English Essay every week, 
and many of these are on subjects which would come into any good course on 
Citizenship, . . . In addition to this, a flourishing Debating Society amongst 
