Risinghill

THE Risinghill issue, dormant since the closure of the school in 1965, has leapt into prominence with the publication of Mrs Leila Berg's book on the subject. It is not our purpose to comment as freely as did Mrs Berg on the personalities involved, but more to examine the major principles that emerge from the Risinghill confusion. These are three. First and foremost a closer look at teacher training with a view to establishing some mechanism whereby the predominantly middle‐class trainees can be exposed to the realities of the outside environment. In the Risinghill story it is not Mr Duane, Dr Briault or Mrs Campbell who come out worst, but the large number of the school's staff that considered the Islington children as an inferior species and reacted to them accordingly. Ironically, Mrs Berg's horror of the Islington conditions springs from the same naivety — but at least her over‐reaction was in the right direction.