THE ENGLISH PRIVATE SCHOOL SYSTEM in SOUTH AFRICA Peter Ralph Randall a Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Education Univ
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THE ENGLISH PRIVATE SCHOOL SYSTEM IN SOUTH AFRICA Peter Ralph Randall A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Education University of tho Witwatersrand, Johannesburg for the Degree of Master of Education Johannesburg 1980 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Ab s t C21C t • • • # #» • • • ••• i Pr 6 f3 C6 ••• ••• ••• ••• ii Introduction: Very English in Character Some Theoretical Considerations Advantaged Education 10 Class-based Education ... 11 E'itism and Education 20 Social Mobility through Education 32 The White South African Elites 35 Some Theological Considerations 40 Development of the English Public School System: i Origins Background ... ... ... ... ... 52 The Mother of Public Schools ......... 55 Prototype of the Upper-class Boarding School ... ... ... ... ... 57 A Learning Community: Architecture and the Public School 60 Boy—government ... ... ... ... 61 The Position of Girls ............... 63 The Church and the Schools ......... 63 Differentiation from the Grammar Schools 66 Development of the English Public School System: ii The Victorian Public School Background ... ... 72 Towards Reform ......... 75 Reform from Within 78 Thomas Arnold of Rugby 79 The Arnold!an Missionaries 83 The Commissions: i) Clarendon ... 86 ii) Taunton 89 The Headmasters' Conference 93 The Public School Code ......... 96 Girls' Public Schools ......... 102 The 'English Tradition' in Education 105 The Formal Structure ................ 107 The Inner Reality ................ 108 5. Beginnings of the South African Private School System i The Cape: British Pluck for Ever Background 1652-1806................. 117 The cape Under British Rule 118 English private education at the Cape 119 British Settlers..... ................ 120 The South African College ......... 126 A Native Education ................ 128 Bishop Robert Grey: St George's, Bishops, St Cyprian’s 129 The Eastern Province: St Andrew's, DSG..... ................ 136 A note on the State Schools 141 An encapsulated society ......... 142 6. Beginnings of the South African Private School System ii Natal: A Colonial Mentality Background 1843-1900 148 Early Schools 149 The first boarding schools 153 Rugby-on-the-Veld ... 155 Michaelhouse ......... 166 The Prep. Schools 170 Conclusion ......... 173 7. Beginnings of the South African Private School System iii The Transvaal: Boer and Brit Background ............................. 182 Pretoria Beginnings ...................... 187 Witwatersrand............................. 188 Effects of the Anglo-Boer War ......... 192 The Reconstruction Period ................ 193 The Saving of St John's ................ 195 The Parktown Culture...................... 197 The Council of Education, Witwatersrand 200 Conclusion ............................. 204 8. Consolidation and Expansion, 1910-1980: 'The Essential Heritage' The English Tradition Continued ......... 209 The Outside World ...................... 212 Afrikaners ............................. 217 Black South Africans 220 The Inner World 222 Creating a Mythology .............. 224 Tone ••• ... ••• ».. ... .,. 226 Getting the Right Head .............. 228 Assistant Teachers ...................... 236 Fluctuating Fortunes .............. 238 A Matter of Finance .............. 2 39 A Question of Identity: i) Governors ....................... 244 ii) Old Boys ...................... 245 iii) Private School Incest 247 iv) The essential heritage ........... 249 9. Socio-Political Factors: 1Afrikanerisation' and 'Integration' The Threat of Afrikanerisation ' ... 258 The Question of Admitting Blacks ... 268 Conclusion ............................. 285 10. Evolution of a System Background ............................. 292 The Archipelago ...................... 294 The HMC ... ... ... ... ... 296 E The Standing Committee of Associated Church Schools ... ... 320 The Interim Period..... ......... 327 The Association of Private Schools 331 The Industrial Fund ......... 337 The British Connection ......... 341 359 11. Conclusion ... « ••• Appendices: 1. Diagrammatic Representation of the South African English Private School System 367 2. List of Members of the Association of Private Schools, 1979 ... ••• 367 3. List of Members of the Conference of Headmasters and Headmistresses, 1976 370 Bibiography: 1. General Works ••• ••• 372 2. Individual Schools ... ... 379 3. Autobiographical and Biographical Works 380 4 Documents etc. ... ••• 3U2 E I declare that this dissertation is my own, unaided work. It is being submitted for the degree of Master of Education in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Il has not been submitted before for any degree or examination in any other University. First day of December 1980 ABSTRACT In attempting an historical overview of the 'English' private school system in South Africa (ie those schools associated with the HMC), this study deals with: i) its British public school oriains? ii) the beginnings of private schools in this country; iii) the evolution of a system in the face of political threat? and iv) a number of theoretical issues underlying the concept of independent school ing. It also attends briefly to several factors in the South African political economy which have a bearing on the private school system. The main source for the early history was secondary work published in Britain and South Africa, autobiographical and biographical work, and documents pertaining to individual schools. For the more recent period a study was made of the relevant primary documentation of the major bodies in the South African private school system, as well as other relevant bodies like diocesan synods. A major conclusion of the study is that the private school system (with the help of the private economic sector) has safely withstood the threat of * Afrikanerisation, but that it now faces the challenge of black-white 'integration', and that its future inevitably depends on the type of political dispen sation that will emerge in South Africa. ii PREFACE My interest in the subject of this study arises from a number of factors, including a general interest in he position of the English-speaking white community in South Africa, of which I am a member, and a specific interest in the way in which its Establishment functions. I myself attended a South African private boarding school and was unable to resolve my conflicting attitudes towards such an education. The conflict is perhaps illustrated by the fact that I chose to send my own children to private prep, schools (on educational grounds) and to state high schools (on socio-political grounds, and, of course, financial grounds). The choice of subject for this study thus probably arises at least in part from an unresolved tension about the justification for private school education in the South African context. The study itself has been subject to a number of externally imp--osed constraints. In October 1977 the Minister of Justice served restriction notices (a banning order) on me for the following five years. These prohibited me, inter alia, from entering the premises of any educational institution, from attending any gathering, and from leaving the Johannesburg Magisterial district. The limitations these prohibitions have placed on my ability fully to undertake this study will be obvious. other limitations arise of course from my own inadequacies. I would have liked to explore more fully the inner life of the schools themselves, but was daunted by the size of the subject whi _.i had alreauy reached inordinate lengths. Likewise I wish I was better able to indicate the relative importance of my topic in the wider South African political context and to develop a theoretical framework of the political economy within which to locate the South African private school system. In the process of. my research I was struck repeatedly by the fact that very few of those involved in the South African private school system, including many o±. i^-s passionate defenders, had any coherent grasp of the history of that system, and o r the way in which it originated in the British public school system, particularly as this reached its full flowering in the late Victorian age. It thus seems necessary to provide at least a general historical overview from the medieval beginnings of the parent system, despite the existence of a large number of excellent British studies of the public schools. The middle section deals with the South African schools, both individually and collectively, tracing their history from Victorian times to the present. This draws mainly on the published histories of the schools themselves, and on such other sources as were available, such as centenary publications and school magazines. The final section, identifying the processes by whicn the schools came together to form a system, and the way in which the system operates, represents the only significant area of original research undertaken. In this I was fortunate in gaining access to previously unpublished documents, particularly the records of the Headmasters1 Conference, the Standing Committee of Associated Church Schools, the Association of Private Schools and the South African Industrial Fund. The information obtained will, I hope,provide considerable insight not only into the operation of the South African English private sch ,ol system, but also into its relationships with the English Establishment in this country, particularly its relationship with private enterprise and the role of capital in helping to perpetuate an English elite. I must make it clear that the EMC and tne Association