14 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM

is totally inadequate to meet modern needs, it would
have been a move in the right direction, but the suggestions
 were not adopted in preparatory schools, and no
encouragement was held out to them by the Head Masters’
Conference to alter their methods.
The determining influence on the curriculum of preparatory
 schools is the attitude of the public schools.
Quoting from the report of this Committee :—
“Tt is clear that from the practical utility of such a
scheme we are bound to rely upon a spirit of co-operation
 (of good-will, that is, upon the part of all schoolmasters)
 in working out this scheme.”
The manifestation of this spirit of co-operation and
good-will has failed to materialize,
« , . . The entrance scholarship system, which in the
opinion of most preparatory school head masters determines
 directly or indirectly the whole preparatory
school curriculum. . . .”
« It would seem then that if the public schools
dominate the situation by the requirements of their
scholarship examinations. . . .”
«, .. It is clear to us that of the forces which control
 the preparatory schools’ curriculum the Public
Schools’ Entrance Scholarship Examinations are by far
the most potent.”
... It is no exaggeration to say that the curriculum
 of all, clever and dull alike, is affected by the
demands that we make on the scholarship candidates.”
In the face of this reiterated principle it was made
abundantly clear to head masters that reform of teaching,
as recommended by their own committee, could readily
be attained by an alteration in the demand made on
scholarship candidates’ by the public schools. The fact
that few, if any, public schools during the last eight
years have made any move in this direction, clearly
proves that if the preparatory schools are to be modern-