How to learn from the great school story authors?

School stories can find lots of excited readers. To be successful, they should fulfil some specific conditions:

- build a situation that is to some degree typical for school life
- have at least two contrasting characters relating to school
- develop and depict a conflict which reflects the patterns of power at school
- deal with a special action at a special school
- be as short as possible to make it an exciting school story
- have at least three main parts which any good short story needs: an introduction, a central action, and an   ending or a solution.

As an example of an excellent school story, I recommend reading John O'Hara's 'Do you like it here?'. It is a very short story about a narrow-minded high school teacher who focuses all his prejudices and mental limits on a student who seems to be the ideal scapegoat from his point of view.

The politics of scapegoat is still one of the most important problems at school nowadays. It will not be easy to overcome it, as the search for scapegoats goes on to be a driving force in many parts of life and society. Maybe it is sufficient to mention the situation of minorities in many countries.

Henry Arnold, author of 'School Stories'