THE ODD ANGLE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 284, 30 November 1944, Page 4

THE ODD ANGLE

By MacCLURE © A CITY "EDDICATION" The tall stranger had all the hallmarks of the dinkum Aussie; he looked like a man, he talked like a man, he acted like a man. And, as we discovered when we accepted his hospitality, he had the liquid capacity of four men. Of simple tastes, he knew what he wanted and, with an economy of speech that, if adopted universally, would revolutionise the world in one generation, he outlined his immediate wants. "An 'ouse—four or five rooms, with conveniences, right 'ere in Auckland, no more'n two sections out at most." Other than that, all he wanted from life was "to be allowed to mind his own business," an idea that, if Peter could only realise it, is at the bottom of most of the opposition he and his party meet with. It was only when he touched on the matter of the "eddication" of his kids that we differed from him. "One reason why I want to live right 'ere in the city is so that my kids can get a dinkum eddication," he confided to us, adding: "I don't want 'em to grow up country bumpkins—not if I can 'elp it." • WHO STARTED THE NOTION? Having been born in one city my-, self (Dunedin) and brought up since' I was a kid of four in another (Wellington) I think I can claim to be judge of the advantages—as well as the disadvantages—of city life. And having had the opportunity, over a period of 30 years, of judging the educational opportunities and attainments of many a "country bumpkin," I think it's time someone squashed, once and for all, the erroneous idea that the city lad has anything on his country cousin: in this country, anyway. As a matter of fact, my firm belief is that the very reverse is the truth—that the average city lad could very well take! lessons from the average "country bumpkin." • B.A.'S AND A.B.'S One real grievance I have with our local scholars—more particularly the average 'varsity laddie (and lassie)—is their superficiality— pin them down to any subject and one finds only too often that the 'varsity course was "dad's idea," or mum's. And that their only interest in things educational is getting hold of a degree as quickly as possible "because it'll get 'em somewhere so much faster than the fellow that hasn't any." I remember some time back when I had quite a lot to do with shipping that there were more B.A.'s aboard ship than A.B.'s —acting as stewards, deck hands and stokers—at which occupations they usually contributed something to society that, with their superficial Knowledge of life gained from text books, they were otherwise unlikely to have contributed. to "WE OF THE BACKWATER" All of which brings me to the real complaint I have against most cf the Yanks with whom I have come into conversation. I'm not worried over their claims to be the world's best fighters, citizens of the biggest country in the world, the world's greatest lovers, or the mcst courteous folk on this planet. Not at all. What has annoyed me more than all this is their taking for granted that we (although a kindly, self-effacing folk, hospitable and all that) lie buried "down under," doomed to live out our lives on these far-away island shores, away frcm the Big Outside World Where Things Happen, and to whom all the aforesaid happenings —or reports thereof — come either from associating with them or from the Great American Press. © THE HERO WORSHIPPERS

It is possible, of course, that "our girls" (many of them so well out of their 'teens that they ought to know better) have given them this idea— that in their hero worship they have allowed themselves to be "sold" the idea that "the Yanks" are in reality the last word in everything that pertains to education, but it is annoying when a succession of very ordinary Yanks (and there really are a lot of this type) succeed in getting away with a conversation in which they rattle off a lot of philosophical, metaphysical and psychological vapourings and jargon, quotations and titles of the latest-off-the-market volumes, any of which would take quite a twelve months' study. Time and time again I have listened to a vclley of this jabber from our visitors, and did my best to look impressed, out of politeness. But invariably my mind went back to more silent men whom I have known in "the bush" on whose home-made (from a packing case, often) bookshelf repcsed half a dozen or so wellthumbed volumes, the contents of which their owners had off by heart; men who, more often than not, had travelled the world as well as their own country, and who usually refrained from seeking to "educate" their fellows, realising that they have neither the time nor the inclination to dispute with or to lecture their neighbours.