Therefore the pupils of Mr. Squeers’ ‘Dotheboys Hall’ cannot run home to their parents every time he is beaten. That is one reason for Squeers’ using the cane so much, he knows it hurts the pupils and also knows that the pupils cannot complain, this gives him a great advantage so therefore more power, which is one of his aims.
Gryce, on the other hand, has to be more cautious with his actions concerning punishment. If he were to lay upon a boy, brutally beating him, then the parents of the boy would not hesitate to involve the local authorities.
The unnamed school of Mr. Gryce is perhaps a dirty school, but there is very little other evidence of conditions there except
‘A silver birch tree provided the only clean part to the picture.’
However the poor conditions do not keep the children from the basics, they are fed, kept warm and also have access to water. Whereas in Mr. Gryces’ school, ‘Dotheboys Hall’ there is an awful lot of evidence that the school is dirty and run down,
‘With a couple of old windows whereof a tenth part might be of glass.’
That statement also proves that Mr. Squeers is a selfish, lazy con merchant, a real teacher with acceptable reasons for teaching would make sure that the working conditions they are at the top end of the scale. Even the walls are well below average
‘The walls were stained and discoloured.’
Furthermore he is even a cost cutter when it comes to the children’s health
‘They have brimstone and treacle in the way of medicine and comes cheaper than breakfast and dinner.’
Brimstone and treacle is a vial and will no doubt put the pupils of the food for at least a day, once again saving Squeers money.
Mr. Gryces’ attitude towards the boys is very poor. This is shown when he even dismisses listening to the boys
‘Please sir,
Don’t interrupt me boy when I’m speaking.’
This attitude to a boy would be acceptable, but the boy was only trying to pass a message on. Also he has no respect for the boys, for example when he calls the boys in for their punishment
‘Come in you reprobates.’
Also when he is giving out the punishment,
‘Nodding his head at each face as though being made to choose from a range of shoddy goods.’
Mr. Gryces’ teaching style has nothing to do with education; he wants the boys of his school to learn four things that he considers more important than any conventional lesson,
‘Discipline, decency, morals and manners.’
With this it his showing that his teaching methods are trapped in a time before the present time and that he either needs a refresher course or not to be in the job at all.
By contrast Mr. Squeers does not want anything for his pupils, in fact his aims are not to provide education or guidance in the right direction, but his aims are money and power. Like Mr. Gryce he too has no respect for the pupils and also shows no intentions of listening to them. His love of money is sometimes inhuman,
‘The worthy lad pocketed the eighteen pence with a most business like air.’
The eighteen pence was a child’s pocket money, which he ordered his wife to take. Not only is he a thief, but also he has no respect for any human, dead or alive.
‘Oh said Squeers, Cobbey’s grandmother is dead, and his uncle John has took to drinking.’
Any human with a slight sense of respect would have at least tried to show some sympathy towards the boy, but with Squeers basic need for money and power this does not fit into his life.
Squeers’ ‘practical mode of teaching’ is laughable, we are told that his teaching experience is little, but if he is to build up a decent reputation then he should at least be able to spell window,
‘W I N win D E R winder.’
After he has taught the boys to spell a word incorrectly, he then makes his case for being a bad teacher go from bad to worse, he makes a pupils clean a window, once again saving him money and giving him power over that pupil.
The main form of punishment in both schools, despite the 130 years difference between the two, is the cane, a brutal and effective way of overpowering boys. For Mr. Squeers the cane is a regular occurrence amongst his class. For instance one of his pupils was unable to pay the fees for attending Squeers’ school,
‘Mr. Squeers fell upon the boy and caned him soundly not leaving off until his arm tired out.’
This was clearly not the child’s fault, however Squeers being the bully that he is used the cane and beat the boy until he could no more. This man in modern times would not only be severely punished him self but he would almost certainly be protested against and possibly even taken to see a doctor.
Mr. Gryce again uses the cane as his main form of punishment, but due to the Education Reform Act in 1870 he is restricted in his use, unlike Squeers, Mr. Gryce cannot hurt a child just because he feels like, and he would probably be aware of the risk of some parents believing their children and taking matters into their own hands, punishing him like he would punish a child. However his philosophy for running a school is
‘The only way of running this school is by the rule of the cane.’
The cane intimidates the majority of the pupils, Gryce knows this and uses it to aid his quest for power, and a movement of the cane in front of most would make them stop, solid like a statue,
‘The sight and swish of the stick stopped the throat noises.’
The minority, on the other hand are not in the slightest bit affected by his arrogant manner. The smokers of the school were stood outside his office ready for punishment; they saw the cane as a time waster and an excuse to miss lessons
‘I’d rather stay ere til four th’n g’ back t’ lessons.’
The smokers, amongst others, know have to have their hands when receiving the cane so that when he does hit them the pain is lesser than Gryce had intended. The small fact that the boys have learned to avoid the pain shows that they are regulars to the cane, which shows that Squeers methods are not effective in every case.
Supposedly, Mr. Gryces secondary modern school is there to give its pupils a good chance at education. But with little fear amongst the pupils as a whole then there is little reason for them to want to learn. However there is some amount of fear in all of the pupils, no matter how large or small, and this is shown by the smokers when they are on full alert when hiding their stash,
‘Hey up, he’s here, Gryce pudding.’
At the same time as the above line showing some sign of fear from the pupils, it is still showing that they are not that bothered about his punishments, which allows them to make fun of him.
By contrast the boys at Dotheboys Hall are completely the opposite, because during their time there they have learned to obey Mr. Squeers as it is, what Mr. Squeers says, goes.
Furthermore if all of the boys from both school were asked which school they would rather go to the out come would almost certainly be all of them choosing the secondary modern school, the reason for this being that Mr. Squeers is a very effective school master, whereas the pupils do not real fear Mr. Gryce and he is not that effective. Mr. Squeers aims were to have power of pupils and money; his power is so easily gained, as there were no laws at that time to stop him from being the cruel man that he quite clearly was. The money would have come from the boy’s fees, so his aims were both achieved. As for Mr. Gryce, he aimed to have power, and in some ways he achieved this by putting fear into the fragile group of pupils, but overall he was not even close to the power gained by Squeers.
Barry Hines, the author of ‘Kestrel for a knave’ set out to point out the faults in the tripartite system, with his best seller of a book he pointed this out to many people, and given time and a few other sources of pointing it out (protests) the government became aware of it to. Soon after the tripartite system changed to the comprehensive system of today. The comprehensive system is there to give all pupils equal opportunities; Barry Hines was trying to say that a person’s life should not depend on the result of an exam taken at the age of eleven. Barry Hines succeeded.
Charles Dickens, the author of ‘Nicholas Nickelby’ wanted a complete reform on education. He knew what a shambles it was. With his newspaper articles which the book started of as, he raised awareness to many people, more often than not educated people, that the system was badly run and that people like Mr. Squeers and places like Dotheboys Hall do actually exist. He was believed to have based the story on a newspaper article he had read were the guilty man was trailed from similar circumstances to Mr. Squeers. Many years after Mr. Dickens brought this major fault to peoples attention others started pointing it out to, and on the year of his death, his aim was achieved. In 1870 the Education Reform Act was put into place to stop criminals like Squeers from being in the education system. Charles Dickens also achieved his aim.
