The classics, the cane and rugby : the life of Aubrey Samuel Langley and his mission to make men in the high schools of Natal, 1871-1939
This thesis explores the life; educational philosophy; and legacy of Aubrey Samuel Langley, an influential boys' schoolmaster who went on to lead Durban High School as its headmaster from 1910-1932. The aim of the thesis is to come to terms with the origins of Langley's controversial educational philosophy and access the effects of the academic, extramural and pedagogical structures that characterized this philosophy on boy's education and upper class white masculinity in Natal. In order to achieve these aims, the thesis investigates Langley's childhood on the colonial frontier; the English public school system that characterized Langley's own secondary education and educational model that he sort to replicate in Natal; the content and rationale behind Langley's classical academic curriculum; Langley's enthusiasm for and development of school athleticism; the makeup of Langley's covert curriculum and its pedagogical implications; and the mixed results of his entire educational philosophy. These aspects of Langley life and philosophy are analyzed throughout the thesis using the prism of masculinity as another one of the thesis' objectives is to add to the ongoing discourse surrounding the English public school system, its implementation in the colonies and its effects on the masculine character of students. This investigation provides numerous insights into the life, educational philosophy and legacy of Aubrey Samuel Langley. It highlights Langley's rugged childhood on the volatile colonial frontier, and the political and social insecurities he developed as a result of this hash upbringing. The thesis argues that these insecurities, along with Langley's adolescent immersion in the English public school system, led Langley to implement and promote a rugged version of the system in Natal's elite boys' high schools. Anecdotal and secondary evidence suggests that Langley particularly promoted the classical, sporting and disciplinary aspects of the system in order to promote amougst his boys a masculinity that was dually physically rugged and academically refined as this is what believed would enable his students to serve in higher branches of the imperial service. Whilst Langley's educational philosophy and dominant personality ensured that many of the classical and harsh practices associated with the English public school continued to characterize elite boys' education in Natal well into the second half of the twentieth century; the testimonies of three of Langley's more rebellious pupils suggest that, whilst very influential in shaping a hegemonic brand of masculinity, Langley's system was not all pervasive and that it is almost impossible to completely replicate a universal understanding of masculinity amougst men of certain ethno-economic bracket.
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