PUBLIC SCHOOL MOULD.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 252, 6 August 1941, Page 4

PUBLIC SCHOOL MOULD.

Contrast the orthodox English public school upbringing with that of Hitler youth and its fanatical belief in the supremacy of “Nordic” cultural values. The teaching which German youth receives is, of course, totally perverted, writes Mr L. B. Walton in the “NewsLetter.” It does, however, givo the young mind something luscious and attractive upon which to feed. It provides an outlet for the youthful instinct to seek out a hero and worship- him. It 'gives youth a, sense of mission and of purpose. The British, schoolboy is generally unacquainted with European history as a whole. Ho receives no grounding in the elements of civics. It would probably be true to say, even nowadays that the most powerful impression which lie receives during his school life is concerned with the importance of suppressing every glimmering of individuality, every tendency toward independence of thought and action. If ho proceeds to a university ho will, it is true, find a more tolerant intellectualatmosphere. It soon, however, dawns upon him that originality and independence of character are obstacles in the path of the kind of worldly success which he desires. If he has no private means ho usually adopts, the line of least resistance, sacrifices his independence of judgment, and becomes our national ideal—the “safe” man! The truth of the matter is that nothing worth doing in practical affairs has ever been done by “safe” men. Why not give the creative, independent mind a chance to play its part at the outset? The present world disaster, like the last, might have been avoided by the exercise of intelligence and good will on both sides. Unhappily, however, our enemies seemed, at first, to have the monopoly of tho former while we had established a corner in tho latter 1