Views On Education
G.F.J. Dart held individualist views on education which he expressed in plain English through speeches and various writings. His views meant that some practices, common in other schools, were not to be found at Ballarat Grammar.
In 1944, for example, Dart oversaw the abolishment of the house system, which he believed was divisive, creating artificial factions within a school. Houses were not reinstated at the school until after Dart’s retirement, when one of the new boarders’ houses was named Dart House.
Dart also opposed formal team debating, although he encouraged public speaking and discussion. In 1949, the year debating was discontinued at Grammar, he wrote, “We do not consider it desirable to encourage boys to argue for causes in which they do not believe.”
During the 1960s it was the school’s policy to cap numbers at 450. Dart supported this in a 1964 address to Old Boys by outlining the advantages of smaller over larger institutions.
The school’s cadet unit was disbanded during Dart’s headmastership, but it is not clear whether this was for philosophical or practical reasons.
Read more about this topic: G. F. J. Dart
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