The Georgist Weekend School

Sidney G. Evans

[Reprinted from the Henry George News, November, 1959]

FOR a year or two I had carried around with me a curiosity concerning those weekend gatherings of young Georgists in Britain that I had been reading about. And so, when I was there this September, I went to one at Hoddesdon, just outside of London. I went as a spectator and returned full of admiration and perhaps confirmed in my earlier suspicion that maybe we of the Henry George schools in America have been missing an important bet in ignoring this British invention. But, before going all out, I should put in this reservation: we must admit it is far from certain that our young people would respond as have those of Britain.

To understand how these weekend schools work in England, one must get clear in mind that this device, from the viewpoint of the London office that arranges them, is not just another "conference." Also, it is not an assembly and forum where the old-timers make speeches. Rather, it is a gathering of the recently indoctrinated youth with just enough teachers and other seasoned Georgists to help with the answers when answers are needed.

The management definitely avoids newspaper publicity and is careful not to overawe the gathering with big names or big personalities or world-famous speakers. Rather the emphasis is put on the young people themselves. They're consulted in advance and each of those believed able to undertake it is persuaded to prepare a ten-minute talk on some assigned topic. In cases where a speech is viewed by the beginner as simply overwhelming, a compromise is reached and a paper is accepted which the author reads. No preparation is demanded, but whether it be a talk or a paper, hours of work - even days - go into it. When the speech is made, it is discussed and perhaps answered or opposed by other students, but rarely by the older Georgists. Each weekend program is worked out in advance for morning, afternoon and evening sessions, interrupted of course twice a day for a thirty-minute tea. The program contains an occasional free period, but the astonishing thing to me was how seriously they followed their program, with no tendency to skip meetings or use the affair as a recreational excuse. The spot chosen is invariably well removed from town, and the English youth in attendance is commonly not over-equipped with motorcars or motor bikes.

The "country house" selected - and of these many can be found in England -has dormitory rooms aplenty, with bedding, a dining room, a kitchen, and a staff. The fare is sufficient and the cost low - so low, in fact, that it seems that the expense of the weekend has been no deterrent in getting a sizable turnout of recent graduates. The total attendance has generally run from thirty to sixty.

Just what the effect of these gatherings, fall and spring, has been on the George movement in Britain, may be difficult to measure. But the London head, representing the Henry George School throughout the British Isles, regards them as the final fillip - the climax of all their educational effort. It has proved the culminating experience that each time has made Georgist crusaders out of hitherto mild and complacent graduates.