CHILDREN’S

LITERATURE:
THE SCHOOL
STORY
M.O. Grenby: Chapter 4
The School Story: Introduction
◦The School Story is one of the main genres of Children’s Literature. In this kind
of fiction, the narrative revolves around school-life. Integration into the school
community, socialisation, friendship, honour and relationship between
students and teachers, are some of the main themes seen in the school story.
◦The school story provides an ideal setting for exploring the challenges faced by
the youth as they learn to integrate into the community while forming their
unique character and individuality.
◦Plots involving sports events, bullies, secrets, rivalry and bravery are often
used to shape the school story.
British School Stories
◦The school story genre is not exclusive to England. Many school stories have
existed outside Britain, however, the classic tradition of the school story,
narratives in which the school features almost as a character itself, and in
which children fit happily into their school, each helping to form the character
of the other – does seem to be rooted in British culture.
◦In Britain, a ‘public school’ denotes the most exclusive kind of private school -
institutions generally founded in the 19th century or earlier and drawing their
pupils from the social elite. Most British public schools and other less
prestigious private schools were either ‘all girls’ or ‘all boys’. This resulted in
the development of major differences between the traditions of boys’ and
girls’ school stories. In recent times co-educational school stories have
become more popular as can be seen in J.K. Rowlings’s Harry Potter novels.
The school story tradition & setting
• Literature designed for children has been set in schools from very early times.
Compositions inscribed onto clay in about 2000 BCE have survived which recount
school anecdotes amongst the Sumerians of Mesopotamia.
• In medieval England, schoolbooks from which spoken Latin or polite English was to
be learned, were produced in substantial numbers from the 15 th century. They were
often composed of dialogues between a master and a pupil or between fellow
schoolboys.
• A late example is, Pueriles Confabulatiunculae: or Children’s Dialogues, probably
written in Latin by Evaldus Gallus in the mid-16 th century which had appeared in
English by 1617. Most of its episodes are set in school. Somehow the book manages
to give a full flavour of Renaissance schoolroom, but also connect smoothly with the
classic school stories of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Although principally a book of instruction, the book fulfils the
three basic criteria of the school story which are
1. It is set almost entirely in school
2. It takes relationships between the scholars and their teachers as its primary
focus
3. It contains attitudes and adventures which are unique to school life.
These are certainly the hallmarks of the early classics of the genre. In the
classic tradition of the school story, the school is not merely a setting for
adventure but functions almost as a character itself, where children fit in
happily into their school, each helping to form the character of the other.
Many school stories continued to follow the school story tradition in the
preceding centuries (eg. See Text p.90). They were usually set in boarding
schools and mostly written in boy’ or girls’ subgenres, reflecting the single-sex
education typical until the 1950s
By mid-20th century, the traditional kind of school story continued to be
written, although some came with a twist with themes involving more
modern concerns such as racial issues, family life, sexuality and drugs. The
Grange Hill books dealt with sex, racism, dyslexia, drugs and many ‘problem
issues’, but the traditional school story format remained in place. More
recently, it has seen a revival with the success of the Harry Potter series(1997-
2007), which uses many plot motifs commonly found in the traditional school
story. J.K. Rowlings reused the conventions of the classic school story to great
popular acclaim, setting the action at Hogwarts, a school for magicians but in all
other respects a reiteration of the traditional British public school.
◦Many other stories may be set largely in school, but either do not show the
school from the pupils’ point of view or use the school only as a backdrop.
E.g. Frances H Burnett’s A Little Princess (1905) where the heroine is the
victim of her teacher's cruelty and her retreat into an imaginary world in
which she is a princess, takes her well away from the world of school. Louise
Fitzhugh’s Harriet the Spy (1964) similarly relies on a school setting, but her
subject is Harriet’s personal growth. The school setting merely provides the
context. Roald Dahl’s Danny the Champion of the World (1975), similarly
deals with a boy’s relationship with his father, but uses the school setting as a
comparative ground to show a son’s greater love of his father than his friends.
 Socialisation, integration, self, society
◦Many school stories deal directly with the gradual integration of new pupils into the
school community especially the integration of the individual and not necessarily as a
group of new pupils. For example, Enid Blyton’s First Term at Malory Towers, sees
Darrell Rivers worried about fitting in. She chooses badly at first but ultimately finds the
friends who will accompany her for the rest of the series
◦The process of friend-gathering is so central to many school stories. First, it provides a
frame for the narrative. Second, it was often designed to reassure nervous pupils that
they would soon find friends. And third, the acquisition of friends is central to one of
the key themes of the school story, what we might call socialisation, or to borrow a term
from psychoanalysis, individuation. This, according to carl Jung, is the way in which the
wholesomeness of the self is established by integrating the individual psyche and the
collective unconscious of the community, or at least its collective identity. Fitting in,
peer pressure, self assertion, sense of belonging to the group etc. are the major
challenges faced by adolescents and the school story explores these themes in the
confines of the school setting.
◦School settings clearly offer a perfect opportunity to depict children learning
to balance their sense of self and of community, to mature by integrating
themselves into society
◦Even some of the earliest school stories address this theme. Stories like Maria
Edgeworth’s The Barring Out (1796) deals with the dangers of ‘over-
identification’ with the group, in a school setting for boys. Stories such as this
show that while integration into a community is desired, there needs to be a
balance whereby one’s individuality is not compromised. There needs to be a
clear balance between individual and community, self reliance and
camaraderie.
◦The school story, therefore explores themes which youngsters face as they
learn to build up their character, their sense of identity as an individual and as
part of a community which is so crucial to growing up and attaining maturity.
Power struggles, defiance, submission
◦A central theme of many school stories is the balance between submission
and defiance, authority and autonomy.
◦As early as 1796, Maria Edgeworth’s The Barring Out, has all the literary
conventions of – the new boy, the stern but kindly master, the midnight feast,
the bully, the gluttonous buffoon, the sense of school boy honour – all these
would become very familiar motifs. Above all, it is Edgeworth’s presentation
of the power struggles being waged in the fictitious boys’ school that would
endure. The rivalry between individuals and above all the struggle for power
between the pupils and their teachers.
◦The hostilities that build up because of these struggles are interesting because
they complicate the issues of authority and obedience which lie at the heart
of the school story. (eg. See text)
◦Many boys’ stories deal with these issues. To take an example, rebellion is the
central theme of Edgeworth’s The Barring Out. What this story demonstrates
more than most later texts, is that the school story is about children establishing
a balance between the obedience of childhood and independence of
adulthood. Indeed, the whole structure of the school story, particularly the
boarding school story, serves to represent this. They are authoritarian places,
with strict rules and harsh discipline, but they are also places of great freedom
for their pupils.
◦Most boys’ school stories position their heroes in the paradoxical role of rule-
bound rule-breakers. In many 19th century texts this contradiction is resolved by
having two levels of teachers: those the boys encounter on a day-to-day basis;
regarded as the enemy and a remote headmaster, who sits in judgement even
on his teaching staff. The splitting of authority like this enables the school story
to make the argument that boys develop into men by both respecting and
testing authority. They mature by a combination of submission and defiance.
Internalisation of school discipline and ethos
The British school story can seem a repressive genre since it often endorses the
individual’s internalisation of school discipline and ethos.
Foucault suggested in his book Discipline and Punish (1975) , that if someone is
aware that they might be under surveillance, they begin to internalise the
disciplinary code of those who watch them. In short, they begin to police
themselves, meaning that authority no longer has to coerce them into compliance.
Eg. In Sarah Fielding’s The Governess (1749), the central theme might be said to be
the way the pupils learn to monitor their own behaviour and to conduct
themselves as Mrs Teachum would wish, even if she was not present. The stories
they tell us also reveal their internalisation of the need for submission.
◦Internalisation of school discipline and ethos could be considered a positive
thing; on the other hand it can also seem like the suppression of an individual.
◦Many classic British and American examples represent what are essentially
totalitarian establishments, each pupil eventually succumbing, like Winston
Smith in Orwell’s 1984, to their ‘atmosphere’ or ‘ethos’ or, to a more loaded
term, ‘ideology’.
◦W.H. Auden recalling his personal experience of school said, “at school I lived
in a fascist state”. By deliberately appealing to ‘loyalty and honour’ his
teachers, Auden claimed, had been able to create a repressive sate policed by
self-censorship and informants. The consequence was a community of
emotionally stunted boys whose only motivations were fear and competition.
◦Totalitarianism has been very deliberately brought into post-war school
stories. Some of the Chalet School novels of the 1930s and’40s are set in the
shadow of Nazism.
◦In Kipling’s Stalky & Co, internalisation of the school ethos is achieved despite
the protagonists’ claims to despise the values which their teachers attempt to
instill, especially the ideals of Tom Brown’s schooldays (1857): muscular
Christianity, fair play loyalty.
◦(for more examples, see text)
◦Internalisation of school discipline and ethos can be seen as a positive thing in
many ways, but it can also be seen to suppress individuality and produce
‘emotionally stunted’ pupils in the process.
Perceived elitism
It has been pointed out by George Orwell that many of the British school stories
have been limited to exclusive boarding schools for the wealthy and in this
regard, does not give a realistic representation of school life and is in fact an
‘incitement to wealth-fantasy’. They were the product of the English
Educational system, based more than anything else on status.
This may be true to a great extent, however, there are examples which show
this is not true in all cases – like Brazil’s For the School colours (1918) which
deals with the successful integration into one school of girls from different
social classes.
J.K. Rowling’s Harry potter books, in which Ron Weasely from a poor
background , mixes on equal terms with Hermione Ranger from a squarely
middle class family, and Harry, who is descended from wizarding aristocracy.
◦After the Second World war, school stories began to appear which deliberately
challenged the genre’s perceived elitism. Geoffery Trease’s No Boats on
Bannermore (1949) and its sequels were deliberately set in an average school
and attempts to reflect real social realities.
◦This was not new because Winifred Darch had also written about ordinary
school stories in the 1920s and ‘30s.
◦Post –War stories were often set in more realistic school settings. William
Mayne’s school stories are set in a cathedral choir setting, which was
unconventional at the time. There was also the gradual inclusion of a greater
degree of social realism.
Modern concerns in school stories
◦The Grange Hill books were based on a British television series, devised by
Phil Raymond and running from 1978. It was part soap opera but still
fundamentally a school story. It produced a number of spin-off books, some
based on the television plotlines, other original, the series beginning with
Robert Leeson’s Grange Hill Rules OK? (1980). It is characterized by its
realism, depiction of ordinary lives, focus on lower-class characters, ‘problem
issues’ and relationship between male and female characters. For most of the
history of the British school story, schools had been single-sex. Only in the
1970s did fiction begin to catch up with reality of co-education.
◦Grange Hill was celebrated for its plot lines involving, amongst other things,
shoplifting, teenage pregnancy, suicide, Asperger’s syndrome, child abuse,
truancy, racism, disability, AIDS, playground knifings, rape, alcoholism, drug
abuse and bereavement. Among these problems, the one issue to feature
most constantly was that consistent theme of the school story, bullying. This
theme is taken up by many school stories.
◦The great longevity of the school story is largely due to its adaptability: it has
successfully combined with other genres, appeared in a range of different
media and absorbed and responded to changing social conditions.