"TYRANNY" OF GAMES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 180, 1 August 1935, Page 6

"TYRANNY" OF GAMES.

Miss Ci. Fanner, vice-president of the Association of Headmistresses, criticised school sanies when she addressed the annual conference of the association at Cambridge in June. Miss Fanner said they did not want more time for games and gymnastics as they were at present understood in the school curriculum. The team spirit had been overdone and games matches had become an evil, over-training the few, including those who most needed training, and giving the wrong kind of recognition to (physical achievement by making it competitive. Modern games had become a strenuous science and a tyranny, and many hated them who never said so. What we needed was more training in how to walk, sit, run, dance, skate and swim, and more attention to carriage and grace. Referring to clothes worn at school, Miss Fanner said she thought girls' clothes wore far more sensible than ever before except in their shoes. They must be thankful, she said, that they were free from some traditions when they saw boys in their O.T.C. uniform, and in the deplorable silk hat. stiff collar and tail coat of a public school. Uniforms helped to obliterate class distinction, but they had other dangers; they tended to uniformity, and it was their aim to foster individuality. It was depressing to see a whole school in uniform, and even the variety of , colour allowed in summer frocks was a relief.