EVACUATED SCHOOL
By A. M. GIBSON
THAT living organisms develop in response to their environment is an established scientific truth. If the converse holds—that development according to environ- ment is characteristic of living organisms—then the fre- quent contention that " a school is a living organism " be- comes no longer a hyperbole but a statement of plain fact.
Anyone who has watched the reaction of a school to the new environment brought about by evacuation will have no doubts on the matter. He will, however, hardly escape a feeling of surprise at the rapidity with which, given favour- able environment and fertile ground, development has taken place: it has the speed of revolution rather than evolution.
' Let us take the case of a large day public school, housed in the heart of a great city. It is naturally a hive of great intellectual activity of all kinds, both inside and outside the classroom. Though its playing fields are distant, there is no lack of enthusiasm and skill in this direction. But there does exist in its nourishment a dearth of aesthetic and spiritual vitamins. The immediate surroundings are, of course, bricks and mortar. The country around exercises little pull: it is flat and unexciting, useful chiefly as a sur- face upon which to drive balls about. It is ill-adapted to encourage modern methods of geography teaching, to practical open-air work in trigonometry, geology, or biology, to landscape-painting and drawing, to interesting operations for the O.T.C. Scouting, too, in this environment, misses much of its fu" Evacuation takes this school to a home by the sea, with an immediate background of rich pasture and tillage, of lovely wooded hills and valleys ; behind this some of the finest mountain scenery in the country. What happens? Within eight weeks the school's corporate life and activities have been multiplied and developed in astonishing fashion. Town-bred boys take to fishing, sailing, sea-bathing as though to the manner born ; they climb hills and moun- tains (not so expertly, but the only casualties are feet and trouser seats); they cycle great distances amid this wonder- land, and parties are to be seen lunching by mountain lakes, taking a breather in some charmed spot, assimilating con- sciously or unconsciously something of the magic and wonder of it all.
Field naturalist, geological, photographic, sketching clubs spring into existence, and subjects which have hitherto been of necessity studied under classroom and laboratory condi- tions are now subjects for direct observation. They lose the tediousness of pure book-work and are vested with a living, active interest—the prerequisite of retention by the mind. Contact is made with farms, which are surveyed and whose working is observed and " logged "; even a helping hand is lent to our staple industry.
Hundreds of young Scouts are enrolled—there is no need to elaborate the delights of Scoutcraft in such country. The O.T.C. finds exciting terrain for operations and map-reading is no longer largely a matter for the imagination. Week- end camp sites are prospected, where, when climatic conditions permit, every boy will learn the joys and trials of the simple life close to Nature.
It is true that hours of instruction are somewhat curtailed. There is, however, no ground for apprehension even on the score of academic " results." There is in learning a law of maximum and diminishing returns, and there is no doubt that too often in our day-schools there is a lack of cor- relation between the culture of the brain and the body—a correlation which, if made exact enough, should give the maximum of efficiency to both. Normally there tends to be too many brains firing or choking on too rich a mixture —too much gas, too little air. In this new existence, thanks to the environment and reduction of transport facilities, general health and fitness has visibly and greatly improved.
Less public amusements are of course available, and boys are thrown more upon their own resource and initiative. This is all to the good ; creation is put back into recreation. Membership of clubs increases greatly in consequence. There is, too, more time for reading, increasing the oppor- tunity for guidance along paths which should lead to lasting profit and delight in place of the ephemeral joys of (what should be) illicit literature. There has been a noticeable deepening and strengthening of religious life as a result of recent experiences and from the opportunity of increased religious observance for all members of the school.
This picture, it may be admitted, has deliberately brought out the rosier hues; it is unnecessary to say that there have been trials, tribulations and temptations. But self-discipline, self-reliance and thoughtfulness have been evoked 113 never before. It will be surprising if, when the return to native surroundings comes, it will not be of bigger, wiser and fuller men.
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