|
ACCORDING to' the Oxford Concise Dictionary the word "Jubilee" means "an anniversary; a season of rejoicing; exultant joy." Our Jubilee Year then should be an occasion when we rejoice over what is past 'and look forward with hope to. the future.
The Romans worshipped a god Janus, who' was imagined as' having two faces, one looking forward, the other looking' backward. Hence comes the name of our month January, which looks backward to. the Old Year, and forward to the New Year. In this Jubilee issue of "The Victorian" we also, like Janus, look to the past and the future.
When the School was founded fifty years ago, the aim of its founders was not only educational. but social and philanthropic also; and the two latter considerations probably carried more weight than the former. In those' days poverty, hardship and misery were too often the lot of the bereaved and the orphan, and indeed of many dependents of the serving sailor or soldier. "As their fathers served the State, so also I pray that the children may grow up under the
shelter of this building to be useful in their station and calling." (King Edward VII on the occasion oif the opening of the School in 1908). "The Scheme of the School is to maintain and educate the sons of Scotsmen serving in the Navy and Army, and of soldiers belonging to Scottish Regiments, Artillery, Engineers, and in other Navy and Army organisations, between the ages of 9 and 14. They will receive a thorough elementary education." (Quoted, from the Official Programme at the opening of the School by King Edward VII in 1908). These quotations, and particular phrases from these quotations, emphasise what has been written at the beginning of this paragraph. ". . . grow up under the shelter of this building ..." "... to maintain and
|
educate ...""... receive a thorough elementary education ..." The emphasis is social rather than educational; to. provide care and shelter is a prime need.
Within the last fifty years, and particularly within tile last fifteen years, a social revolution. has taken place, comparable in its effects, though more beneficially, with the social changes brought, about by the Industrial Revolution of the l8th and 19th centuries'. Grinding poverty has. disappeared; sickness, unemployment and old age are not now the spectres' which they
once were to the great mass of the population. By 1958 the conception, of the function of the School has changed. There is. less emphasis on maintenance and 'shelter; the prime function of the School is educational. "Most of the boys leave when they are fifteen years old, but an increasing number stay on to' take examinations, some remaining until they are eighteen and can pass straight from, school to Universities or Service Colleges" (quotation from the Golden Jubilee Appeal). "The School is organised in two sections, a Primary department for boys up to and including the age of 12, and a Secondary department for boys of 12 and over, in order to conform with the normal system of Scottish schools. The Secondary department contains two streams, one consisting of boys who may normally expect to leave school at 15, and the other consisting of boys who' will probably remain at school until the age of 17 or 18, and who follow courses of study as required by the Scottish Education Department in preparation for the Higher Leaving Certificate." (Golden Jubilee Appeal). These two quotations emphasise that change in the character of the School that has been brought about by the social revolution. The prime function of the School in 1958 is to provide an education equal in merit and
 |
|
