34, not out
— the “major sports”). With the vast majority of boys being expected to engage, for the most part, in ludis major , it was my job, as a Day Housemaster, to wheedle, cajole, beg non-squad boys to participate in the respective ‘Little Sides’ tournaments for each of the “big three”, played out over the course of the Michaelmas, Lent and Summer Terms, respectively. The end-of-term “Big Sides” tournament, by contrast, was the squad players’ opportunity to gain bragging rights over their mates for the year ahead. Are the boys any different? I am often asked. Well, as I traverse the campus and see them engag- ed in patball games, mock-wrestling, laughing, joking, locked in intensive study, maybe at a
screen but maybe of a book, with pen and paper in hand, I see much that is familiar from my first days here. The school is, in my opinion, a kinder place (colleagues now even tolerate me as a member of the staff cricket team), and that is undoubtedly a good thing. In essence, though, many of the boys’ attributes which made this such a wonderful environment to be privileged to teach in over 30 years ago — namely, their intellectual curiosity, enthusiasm and humour — are still evident in spades. Speaking of enthusiasm and humour, did I men- tion the Upper School Little Sides Soccer Football Competition? Yes, some things have changed, though, in essence, not the essentials. ◎
Some things change – but not the essentials. David Smith reflects on his 34 years of teaching at the College
I see much that is familiar from my first days here
“ The past is another country; they do things differently there” is a quotation often deployed in relation to history. Well, as I often tell my students, to some extent yes, although, upon close inspection, some things remain familiar. Certainly, when I think back to my first year at Dulwich College as a fresh- faced member of the History Department, in 1991, a number of features of school life then
Yorkshireman and ex-copper, who was single- handedly responsible for College security. In an age before electronic gates, he would occasionally be seen frog-marching across the gravel a local member of the local criminal fraternity, whom he had just chased and apprehended. Cherchez la femme was a title on which I was asked to speak to the Dulwich History Society
by David Smith, Teacher of History
a couple of years into my incumbency, re- flecting upon the role of women in history. One might well have said that the phrase was also applicable to
have now disappeared completely, or only faint echoes remain. Chalk and blackboards have long since been superseded by multi-
Intellectual curiosity, enthusiasm and humour are still evident in spades
coloured pens sliding across the sheen-like surfaces of wall-to-wall whiteboards, the fug of cigarette smoke in the Common Room is also a thing of the past, due to the College’s equivalent of the Clean Air Act, and the various House “Little Sides” tournaments are now a distant memory — with one notable exception… Addressing the boys by surnames was de rigueur (certainly “fifth form” (Year 11) students and be- low) and they were expected to stand when the master (teacher) entered the room, at the start of each lesson. It was, in many ways, a harsher environment; although there were among the staff a good number of very caring and sympathetic individuals, systematic provision of counselling, wellbeing lessons, and the like, were very much distant future concepts. Site Officers had not yet been invented. Instead, there was a “staff sergeant”, Mr Peter Wilkes,
the College’s Common Room, given the male- dominated environment. By contrast, the social mix of pupils was, I think, broader, given the existence of the Assisted Places Scheme, whereby central government (or, more specifically, “Mr and Mrs Taxpayer”) subsidised about a fifth of the school’s pupils, until the programme’s dis- continuation in the late 1990s. Younger readers may also be astounded to hear that this was a time without mobile phones, laptops, PlayStations, and – perhaps most shockingly of all for some – Premier League football. Indeed, when I first arrived, as a footie-mad twentysomething who had, to much consternation, formed a girls’ (!) football team at my previous school, I was initially perplexed to be constantly reminded that it was “soccer” to which I was referring, rather than rugby football. Soccer’s official status at the College was as a “minor sport” (along with any others, apart from Rugby, Hockey and Cricket
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THE ALLEYNIAN 713
OPINION, INTERVIEWS & FEATURES
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