The questions were mostly from the two top classes. The teachers had no briefing, and were often caught out stammering in their indecision. One of the teachers, Miss Euphemia Phillips proved to be the coolest and best informed of the three teachers on the stage. She dealt with questions put to her with honesty and with authority, and would often intervene skilfully to assist one of the others without causing embarrassment.
While Femman was skillful in his questioning, Denham was blunt in his criticism. He severely criticised the general pattern of P.T. and games. Denham was a trained boxer, and insisted that such exercises were only advantageous if practised daily and for more sustained periods; P.T. twice weekly for twenty minutes was a waste of time, he asserted.
Miss Phillips reminded the school that every subject, including P.T. and games, , had been carefully considered and fitted into the teaching timetable so that each student received maximum benefit from it. The school considered it in terms of the greatest good for the greatest number. She added, hinting at Denham, that while some were fortunate in their own fine physical development and did not really need the few meagre helpings of P.T. and games which the school could offer, there were others for whom the programme was ideally suited. It would be beyond anyone’s powers to please everybody.
She suggested that some of the older boys might even be able to help in that respect. Denham, not put off by these sugary remarks, replied that only the kids who needed it could take it, while the others could have a game of football or something, instead of doing something useless.
This was a difficult question to answer, but Miss Phillips replied pleasantly that it should be considered as much an exercise of the mind as it is of the body. The whole timetable in the school was meant to help them in the world after they left the school, and doing what one was told in spite of not liking it, was part of the training. That answer defeated Denham and he accepted his defeat gracefully.
