A history of Michaelhouse, 1896-1952.

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is straightforward: to survey the development of a 'private' school over a period of a little more than half a century. In the survey, I hoped to indicate the way in which the school developed as an institution: the main elements in its government and the way it was affected by changing conditions; to describe the main features of its educational programme: curricular and extra-curricular activities; and to attempt an assessnent of its achievement and an analysis of its distinguishing characteristics. The period covered is from the foundation of the school in 1896 to the resignation of F.R. Snell in 1952, the latter date being chosen chiefly because the distance proper to a thesis did not seen possible in a survey of this kind for the succeeding period. I have, however, also included a chapter on the precursor of Michaelhouse as relevant background infomation; and I have taken the story of the Old Boys up to the present, since most of them had been at school before 1952. Athough I have included an assessment of the school's achievements in the list of purposes, it soon became apparent that my aim should be more modest. The interaction of home, school and society is so complex that a proper study of the school's role, even in so obvious a matter as academic achievement and particularly in relation to such aims as leadership or religious development, would require a careful sociological analysis which would have made the thesis extremely unwieldy and for which sufficient information, especially on the earlier stages, was in any case not available. My more modest aim was therefore to place the development of the school and the education it provided in perspective.