Trivium 21c

The value teachers place on the activities children engage in outside of school.

In Lawrence Stenhouse’s wonderful book ‘An Introduction to Curriculum Research and Development’ there is a list of pupils’ interests and activities ranked by how their teachers approved/disapproved of them. It is quite an interesting, in some cases extraordinary, list. It was part of a study entitled: ‘Values and Involvement in a Grammar School’ published in 1969. A list much of its time, of that type of school and also the interests of boys rather than girls. Between numbers 44 and 45, net approval jumps over into net disapproval, marked by an asterisk:

1. Reading worthwhile books
2. Camping
3. Debating
4. Theatre Visits
5. Swimming
6. Amateur Dramatics
7. Painting and Drawing
8. Athletics
9. Playing an Instrument
10. Listening to classical music
11. Natural history
12. Visiting picture galleries
13. Playing cricket
14. Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
15. Tennis
16. Playing rugger (sic)
17. Woodwork
18. Keeping pets
19. Being a scout or a member of the Boy’s Brigade
20. Girl friend (fifth or sixth form)
21. Holiday job
22. Youth club
23. Making radios, etc.
24. Photography
25. Playing soccer
26. Badminton
27. Cycling
28. Choir singing
29. Aero modelling
30. Table tennis
31. Doing science experiments at home
32. Joining the A.T.C.
33. Listening to jazz records
34. Fishing
35. Crosswords
36. Collecting stamps, coins, etc.
37. Going to public dances
38. Roller skating
39. Driving a car
40. Bridge
41. Reading science fiction
42. Saturday job
43. Going to the cinema once a week
44. Belonging to a youth political movement
45. Listening to pop records*
46. Twisting or jiving*
47. Going to soccer matches*
48. Visiting jazz clubs*
49. Scootering*
50. Solo*
51. Paper round*
52. Wearing the latest teenage fashion*
53. Hitch-hiking*
54. Ten-pin bowling*
55. Seeing X-certificate films*
56. Billiards and snooker*
57. Visiting public houses (legally)*
58. Motor bike*
59. Reading novels emphasising sex and violence*
60. Smoking*

I wonder what a list of 60 interests would look like today and would anything make it below ‘smoking’ and anything above ‘Reading worthwhile books’ ? I’d be interested to read your ideas.