Meanwhile pneumonia has carried off, in the prime of early manhood, their staunchest friend among our colleagues. He was not one who took any but a very small part in the actual conduct of the experiments. He once lectured to _The Politics Class_ on "Liberalism." But he had a genius for sympathy, and always, when difficulties arose, it was to him that we turned, because he had the gift of making us feel that it was still worth while to persevere. Had we been wiser, he could perhaps have served us still further by bringing us into touch with some of those who differed from us, and helping to a mutual understanding. For everyone was his friend. The dedication of this book had already been chosen before he died, and we are unwilling to alter it, but perhaps we may also venture to offer it as an unworthy tribute to the memory of Alan Gorringe. CONTENTS CHAP. PREFACE I. THE RISE II. THE COLLAPSE III. PROPAGANDA IV. CONTROVERSY V. CAPTURE BY THE STATE VI. THE MAKING OF "POLITICIANS" VII. PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND FREAK SCHOOLS VIII. MORALITY IX. RELIGION X. CURRICULUM XI. THE YOUNG GENERATION AND THE OLD APPENDIX "That such an experiment should have been permitted in one of the great public (English) schools is a sign of the greatest promise for the future."--_Aberdeen Free Press_. "Of all the objectionable and inept proposals for reforming the education of our public schools we must award the palm to the scheme of teaching boys politics."--_Saturday Review_. "We do not believe the authors have delivered all their message."--_Scottish Educational Journal_. THE SCHOOL AND THE WORLD CHAPTER I THE RISE The school in which political education was tried for a space of something under two years is in no way a very remarkable school. It has its sixteenth-century founder, "of pious memory," and its "second founder," of memory almost more pious, in early Victorian days. That second founder made the school famous as a centre of stalwart evangelicalism. More recently its fame has been won chiefly in the production of first-class cricketers. Until the early years of the present century the school had also, we are told, a kind of inverted fame as one of the "stupidest" of the public schools, as a dumping ground for young hopefuls who could not pass entrance examinations elsewhere. From that reputation, however, it had struggled fairly successfully to free itself.