As of September 2010, the Department of Defence proposes to change the Duke of York’s Royal Military School into an academy within the mainstream state-funded section. A ‘consultation questionnaire’ is circulating to garner opinion even though the change is inevitable.
Significantly, circulation is to the Armed Forces, students, parents, members of the teaching and support staff, and Commissioners of the School. Almost as an afterthought, there is space for anyone ‘… else with an interest in the proposal’. Courtesy of the OBA, the questionnaire has been distributed to OBA members.
The ‘working title’ of the new academy is Duke of York’s Royal Military School – An Academy with Military Traditions. The first statement deals with the title of the new Academy; comments or optional names for the institution are invited.
I have written elsewhere that management and operation of the School is no business of its alumni. Nevertheless, considering the changed status of the School (or Academy, but not both) means that it will no longer be ‘royal’ or ‘military’. It is just another ‘public school’ although one that caters to children of the Armed Forces.
One would not attach the ‘royal’ to Eton, Harrow, Wellington, Ampleforth or Charterhouse to mention some notable public schools. What justification is there then for attaching ‘royal’ to the Duke of York’s? As for the word ‘military’ that, in the context of the School’s function and raison d’être, no longer applies either. It is a fee-paying institution and totally transformed from its original purpose.
In short, Duke of York’s School – An Academy with Military Traditions, is enough. Let there the matter rest.
Tags: Education