"At school you are engaged not so much in acquiring knowledge as in making mental efforts under criticism. A certain amount of knowledge you can indeed with average faculties acquire so as to retain; nor need you regret the hours you spent on much that is forgotten, for the shadow of lost knowledge at least protects you from many illusions. But you go to a great school not so much for knowledge as for arts and habits; for the habit of attention, for the art of expression, for the art of assuming at a moment's notice a new intellectual position, for the art of entering quickly into another person's thoughts, for the habit of submitting to censure and refutation, for the art of indicating assent or dissent in graduated terms, for the habit of regarding minute points of accuracy, for the art of working out what is possible in a given time, for taste, for discrimination, for mental courage, and for mental soberness."

William Johnson (later Cory), King's Scholar 1832-41, Master 1845-72

@Gordon Gekko its a college being built not a secondary

@Njung'e, many thanks. I'll get my machinery moving.

@marex, was there this morning - you know that is where mpango wa kando yuko and there were people working at the site....

@njunge, @marex, very many thanks for all the info and tit bits. My boy is sitting in a classroom at Booker as I write this. Nani kama Wazua???