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Headman to New Man

Winchester College and Div: A Short Introduction

Winchester College Short Half 2020 Welcome to Winchester College Founded 1382: the country’s oldest public school

“Eton boatmen, Harrow gentlemen, Westminster scoundrels, Winchester scholars.”

What is Div and what will it mean for you? Wi

Winchester College and Div

I: Early Winchester: Humanism II: Victorian Winchester: High Humanism III: Contemporary Winchester: New Perspectives IV: The future: What does Div mean for you? Wi

I: Early Winchester: Humanism The 14th and 15th Centuries

Including Two Bishops of Winchester: Wykeham and Waynflete (c1320-1404)

• Wanted something of unique ambition and scope. • Mediaeval world was moving towards the movement of mind we know as the Renaissance. • Rediscovery of classical authors and classical world. The Court of Richard II (King 1377-99) Cultural Growth Political Turmoil Henry VI: How will the country, for these woful chances, Misthink the king, and not be satisfied! Son: Was ever son so rued a father's death? Father: Was ever father so bemoan’d his son? Henry VI: Was ever king so grieved for subjects’ woe? Much is your sorrow; mine ten times so much. Son: I'll bear thee hence, where I may weep my fill. Exit with the body

William Shakespeare: King Henry VI Part 3 A Second William: William of Waynflete (c1398-1486)

• Almost a replica of William of Wykeham. • Unexceptional social origin, if different in skill base (teacher not builder). • Headmaster Winchester, 1429-41; Provost of Eton, 1442-47. • Comparable final trajectory – , 1447-86; , 1456-60. • Founder of linked School and College (Magdalen). • Precursor of Humanism (qv). Instructio v Illuminatio. • Introduction of Grammar: • John Stanbridge OW, Grammarian. • William Lily OW, Grammarian. The Evolving Legacy

All Souls,

William Grocyn (1446- John Stanbridge, OW (1364-1443) 1519) lectures in Greek (1463-1510) AND SO…

By the start of the early modern period, • the character of the country’s educational institutions and • the nature of the curriculum taught in them had been profoundly shaped by William of Wykeham’s revolutionary foundation of the College of St Mary at Winchester.

We now fly over three centuries. Wi

II: Victorian Winchester: High Humanism The Long 19th Century

Including Two Wykehamist Cultural Critics: Matthew Arnold and Kenneth Clark Technological and Social Revolution

‘The most distinctive features of the last 50 years is the wonderful increase of industrial production, accompanied by an even more remarkable development of new means of locomotion and intercommunication.

The standard of comfort has been raised, the ravages of pestilence and famine have been checked, and the natural obstacles, which time and space offer, have been reduced to an extent unknown to former ages.’

Thomas Henry Huxley: The Advance of Science in the Last Half-Century (1898) Fighting Temeraire, JMW Turner, 1838. Croxdale Viaduct, near Durham, by Stanley Roy Badmin

Rain, Steam and Speed, JMW Turner

Rain, Steam and Speed, JMW Turner, 1844 Educational Change

Phil’s Chawker’s Cook’s

Trant’s Freddie’s Hawkins Moberly Turner Beloe

Du Boulay Morshead

Bramston Fearon Sergeant But also Educational Continuity

• ‘My father was fond of repeating the sentence in the Eton Latin grammar – “Concessi Cantabrigiam ad capiendum ingenii cultum”.

• This was the proverb which presided over my whole college life. Though often dimmed, it was never lost sight of.

• I think no other sentence of any book has had so large a share in moulding my mind and character as that.’

Mark Pattison, Memoirs, 1885 Matthew Arnold (1822-88) • Son of Thomas Arnold OW, Headmaster of Rugby. • Winchester College: 1836-37. • Rugby: 1837-40. • Oxford: 1841-44. • Fellow of Oriel: 1845. • Oxford Professor of Poetry: 1857. • Poet (‘Dover Beach’ 1867). • Social Critic (Culture and Anarchy, 1869). • Theologian (Literature and Dogma, 1873). • Inspector of schools: 1851-86. Arnold influenced for over a century:

• What people learnt: ‘sweetness and light’ – schools must afford a liberal, artistic, and cultural education. • How people thought – ‘to see the object as in itself it really is’. • What people believed: ‘miracles do not happen’. • What people respected (high culture, a gradated hierarchical Western canon). • What people should guard against: ‘Philistinism’.

• He was widely read and admired… • …and he had a Wiccamical spiritual descendant. Kenneth Clark (1903-83) • Winchester College: 1917-22. • Trinity College, Oxford: 1922-25. • Director of National Gallery: 1934- 44. • Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford: 1946-49. • Author e.g. Piero della Francesca, 1951. • Arts Council Chairman: 1953-60. • Civilisation: 1966-69: a breakthrough for documentaries and for colour TV. Musa, opened under the Revd William A Fearon (Headmaster 1884-1901) With Monty Rendall (Headmaster 1911-24) as Curator of Mediaeval and Renaissance Art. • The first episode of Civilisation began with a series of images of works of art and architecture, with music in the background.

• Clark stops in front of Notre Dame, and asks: ‘What is civilisation? I don’t know – yet. But I think I recognise it when I see it and I am looking at it now’.

• Here is the preceding opening sequence. What and where are they? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxEJn7dWY60&t=457s&ab_channel=ThomasRiegel For Clark these were ‘the great works of western man.’ The roll call was no different from that of Matthew Arnold, nor of Monty Rendall. There were, for example • No women. • No non-Western cultures – China, India, Africa, America. • …. and not even Spain, not even Goya, not even Velasquez. To all parties Civilisation was an undeniable televisual tour de force. But for some, in addition, it simply would not do. It was yesterday’s view. ‘A monument to privilege, inequality and social injustice. Culture is enveloped in an atmosphere of bogus religiosity and used to give a spurious political dimension to the structures of political power. Clark was clerk to the nostalgia of a ruling class in decline.’ John Berger Wi

III: Contemporary Winchester: New Perspectives The 20th and 21st Centuries

Introducing A Diversity of Viewpoints and Critics ‘On or about December 1910 human nature changed. … All human relations shifted, and when human relations change there is at the same time a change in religion, conduct, politics, and literature.’

Virginia Woolf, Mr Bennett and Mrs. Brown, 1924 What happened to change our view of things in the 20th century so radically?

Gassed, John Singer Sargent, 1919 Two wars brought alterations to how we see. Another new age came upon us, again with the advance of technology. The blind wondered if they might be leading the blind. Destruction of

A race A culture A civilisation? Fundamental challenge to received ideas

• What is one’s country? • What is one’s culture? • Can there be such a thing as a canon? • Is there really such a thing as culture? • How should I look at myself and the world?

Lord of the Flies 1954 (novel), 1963 (film) • End of Lord of the Flies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmHy34EWlpw ‘That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.’ A New Look at the World ‘We need diversity of thought in the world to face the new challenges.’ Tim Berners-Lee • Age • Gender • Race • Class

• Rights • Beliefs

• Prospects • Communications • Ecology The Example of Race

A tie in Australia, 1960 A riot in Brixton, 1981 Black Lives Matter Race: four defining years

• 1960: Harold Macmillan Wind of Change Speech. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fjiHI1apUI (from around 1’30 is best). • December 1960: Frank Worrell appointed the first Black West Indies captain. • West Indies tie with Australia but lose the series. https://www.cricketworld.com/the- best-of-tests-when-australia-and-west-indies-played-first-ever-tied-test/63314.htm. • Or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDY5RdDRJ1I. • 1962: Nelson Mandela imprisoned. • 1963: CLR James: Beyond a Boundary. • 1963: Martin Luther King: I Have a Dream Speech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IB0i6bJIjw. • 1963: West Indies defeat England in a test series for the first time. ‘Civilisation is slippery, the word has multiple and contested meanings. Equally thorny is the belief, once commonplace, that civilisation was a singular project, a phenomenon that spread across parts of the world from a single source. Prefix the word civilisation with the word “western” as Clark was prone to do, and you have a whole new set of problems.’ David Olusoga A presenter of Civilisations, 2018 Wi

IV: The Future What does Div mean for you? The Word • Div means a form or class (from 1838).

The Content • Broadly speaking, Div is true to the tradition of Wykeham, Waynflete, Arnold and Clark. • Predominantly liberal humanist in content: English, History, RS.

Philosophy • But as the world has altered, so too has Div. • Winchester believes that: • The world pays too much attention to exams: the new Marxism, we might call it. • The world pays too much attention to narrowness, failing to see that education involves breadth. Purpose

• Div is there to counter these trends. • It provides insight from the ancient world to challenge the modern, and it examines the ideas of the modern world in such a way as to throw light on the ancient.

• It has been influenced over time by the particular interests of different Headmasters: John Thorn Walter Oakeshott The Arts The Middle Ages James Sabben- Tommy Cookson Clare Discussions, Debates Wiccamica

Desmond Lee Spencer Leeson Ralph Townsend Monty Rendall The Classics The Classics Theology Renaissance Art Content What will Div involve for you? • This term year you will be encouraged to grow expert in: o Knowledge: A broad range of texts: gospels, novels, poems, plays, translations. o Analysis: the power and varieties of language. o Context: the appreciation of historical and cultural background. Wi

Conclusion

We give more time to Div than any other subject, yet, it doesn’t really have a syllabus and it’s certainly not examined.

Div is about acquiring a habit of mind, a desire to understand the cultures of the world in all their breadth, to engage in criticality, to engage in debate, to engage in making sure that the learning that you have has practical outcomes.

In Div, as time progresses, you can study whatever you, or your friend, or your Div don likes. But what it’s after is making you a learner and a citizen of a very special kind. Concesii cantabrigiam…. Good Schools Guide Comments ‘Winchester is sometimes described as ‘very traditional’, the implication being that this is not good. The reverse is true. It is the College’s enlightened commitment to the enduring principles of a ‘traditional’ liberal education, as embodied by Div, that parents, dons and boys value the most. Ironically, Div’s cross-curricular, discursive and research-led ethos now seems strikingly modern. Those calling for education to be re- invented might find that Wykehamists are, with typical good manners, quietly ahead of the game.’ The Old and the New

• We have seen two devisers. • Two diviners. • Multiple refiners.

• We have learnt the family tree. Your Div Family Tree Humanism: Two Williams ↓ William of Wykeham ↓ William Waynflete ↓

High Humanism: Two Wykehamists ↓ Matthew Arnold ↓ Kenneth Clark ↓ Post- Post- Access Prosperity Colonialism Pacifism Feminism modernism Globalisation Internet BLM ↓ Div ↓ You Wi

• Div is whatever isn’t taught otherwise or elsewhere. • Div addresses a perceived deficit. • Div is Defining, Interrogatory and Visionary. • It is meant to encourage Diligence, Inquiry and lasting Values. • Div is unique to Winchester.

Enjoy and explore how you can lastingly benefit!! ‘My dear headmaster, none of the letters I have received about my appointment have given me so much pleasure, and I am deeply grateful for what you say about Winchester. I seemed to be such a failure when I was there, and all my masters were ashamed of me (none of them have written to me now). But really I was learning more than they, or I, realised. I need hardly say that I owe all this directly to you – to your lectures and to the books and photographs which you put in the museum… You are the only begetter of any good fortune which may have befallen me; and please do not think, my dear Headmaster, that I ever forget it.’

Kenneth Clark to Monty Rendall on his appointment as Director of the National Gallery, 1933. Wi

Headman to New Man

Winchester College and Div: A Short Introduction

Winchester College Short Half 2020