Education in the British Army

Abstract

III: Education in the Post-War Army THE years between the two World Wars were notable for two distinct phases which are im portant to remember. First there was the apathy in low place's And the frequent opposition in high ones which net the newly formed Army Educational Corps as it faced its new task. Second was the change of attitude on the part of officers and men as the grinding, hard and courageous work of those early years began to show its effect. The earlier trickle of men coming forward for higher education in their leisure time became a steady stream in the late 'twenties, and by the time war broke out it was in some places becoming a flood which could be con tained only with difficulty. No less important was the change in the attitude of senior officers; opposi tion changed into co-operation, interest and, in some cases, real enthusiasm. As horse and foot were replaced by the machine, the traditional conception of the still-tongued, non-thinking but superbly disciplined soldier gave place to a new ideal: the man who would think, not at the rate of the moving horse, but at the speed of the motor-vehicle which was rapidly superseding it; a man who would observe discipline not from fear of punishment, but because of a real understanding of its efficacy. This was real progress; but it was still hampered by the shackles of an elaborate and extensive examination system which limited the horizon and absorbed, in great quantities, time and energy which could have been far more profitably employed.