Schools are producing children ‘without character’

Wrapping pupils ‘in cotton wool’ may be linked to rise of snowflake generation, leading head master warns

SCHOOLS that “enfold pupils in cotton wool” and focus only on exam grades are producing a nation of children without character, the head master of Stowe School has warned. Dr Anthony Wallersteiner said children once developed resilience and grit by playing sports on cold, rainy days, collecting tadpoles and climbing trees.

But the “scramble” to climb league tables had led schools to neglect activities which traditionally helped pupils understand their strengths and weaknesses and learn perseverance.

“Children are experiential learners,” he said. “They learn how to ride a bicycle after they have fallen off a few times. Building a den, climbing trees and collecting tadpoles will give them a better understanding of themselves and their place in the world than playing Fortnite.

“They develop more resilience, grit and character by playing lacrosse, hockey or rugby on a cold, wet December afternoon than by vaping or watching 13 Reasons Why … character virtues which seem to have been lost in the scramble for schools to achieve ever higher metrics in public exams.”

Dr Julian Lovelock, former dean of arts and languages at the University of Buckingham, has also noticed an curious trend in school stories, which reflects how institutions have changed.

In his new book, The Demon Headmaster, he writes that in the past 50 years tales about boarding schools have become “fallow ground for the novelist” because life has become more sanitised. Authors were now forced to set plots in fantasy schools such as Hogwarts, in the Harry Potter series.

Although the humiliations and beatings that used to occur in schools had largely been wiped out, he argued that the traditional idea of character building had perhaps “receded too far”. Dr Lovelock said: “Character building as it used to be known, and as it is characterised in school stories, is another way of saying that learning to survive physical and mental hardship is a good thing – which of course it isn’t.

“There should be no return to that kind of character building, but I believe fervently that schools should have the time and resource to foster such qualities as honesty, loyalty, determination, resilience, leadership.”

Without setbacks and character building, educational experts are concerned that young people are being left unprepared for adulthood.

Dr Wallersteiner said: “There may be a connection between schools enfolding their pupils in cotton wool and the rise of the ‘snowflake’ generation with their safe spaces in universities, virtue signalling and no-platforming of speakers expressing different opinions to their own.

“Successful people generally experience many setbacks before they discover a winning formula.”