YOUTH OF BRITAIN TODAY

Press, Volume C, Issue 29436, 11 February 1961, Page 10

YOUTH OF BRITAIN TODAY

IBiz VISCOUNI MONTGOMERY Of ALAMEIN. K.G.I JN the summer of 1948 I delivered an address on "The Youth of Britain.” Certain organs of the press, in commenting on it, said that a man of 60, which was then my age, had no mandate to speak on the subject of youth. At the time I reckoned that my experiences in handling the young manhood of Britain, helping to turn them into the tough warriors who fought and beat the once-renowned German Army from Normandy to the Baltic, and later in testing others in the fire of National Service, gave me a certain entitlement to speak my mind about the boys of our nation. And this I did, saying that I was not too happy about them.

Let us now take another look at our British boys and see how we stand today. We must "understand" the human material at our disposal before we can decide the type of leadership and training it needs.

During the years of socalled peace since 1945 it has been my good fortune to have been brought into contact with the young men of every nation in the Western bloc, seeing them carrying out their National Service or military training. In addition, when I visited a country in the Western Defence organisation it was my custom to go to a boys’ school and learn about that age group. Thus I gained a good working knowledge of the youth of the Free World—from Norway across Europe to Italy, due east to Turkey, across the Atlantic in Canada and the United States, and of course in Britain and Northern Ireland. Today I am a governor of two English public schools. I find nothing wrong with the boys of our'nation as regards the material they offer; they are splendid material and will stand comparison with the young people of any other nation. I find a good deal wrong in our handling and training of this fine material, and if the boys of today are considered to be not so good as they should be, I reckon it's our fault.

Differing Eras The "distinctiveness” of each generation is due to the progress of civilisation over the years. For instance. I was a boy in the Victorian and Edwardian eras; those were the days of large families; my parents had nine children and we were a self-contained little community within ourselves. There were no cinemas; we had little pocket money; living was cheap; we made our own amusements and didn’t have to go outside for them. The generation after mine, that is after the First World War. had very different conditions. There were cinemas; girls went out alone with boys; families were smaller due to economic pressure; boys began to go outside their families for their amusements. And consider the next generation. the boys of today—what freedom they have! I am sure it is all for the best; but the changes which have taken place over the years must be understood. They are the same boys as regards flesh and blood. But just as the soldiers of today need a different kind of leadership than those of say the South African War of 1900, so the boys of each successive generation need a different kind of handling—and particularly the boys of today, in the 1960'5. Upbringing Of Boys

In every generation some boys come from good homes, some from bad; some are the sons of rich parents, some come from the working classes. But. over all. a common humanity unites them. The proper study of mankind is man. so let us consider the upbringing of the boys of our land in the present times. The boy of today is the man of tomorrow; the object in his training should be to build up his character so that in due coruse he can influence others for good. Let us make no mistake about one thing—the foundations of character must be laid in the home: the basis of all training must take place there; it is that training which will influence a boy all his life, for good or for ill

On the sure foundations for good laid in the home, the schoolmaster will build when the boy comes his way; if those foundations have not been laid, neither the schoolmaster nor anybody else can do much about it We hear a good deal these days about "juvenile delinquency”; this, of course, is often a very convenient expression for “parental neglect.”

Building Of Character My own experience leads me to believe that the foundaation of character-building—-what is right and what is wrong, speaking the truth, chivalry, to mention the most important—must be instilled into a boy by the time he is six years old. This is necessary because of the world we live in. As the boy grows up the time will come when he has outgrown his family, or thinks he has—which is the same thing in the end. He is now about 14 and the foundations of character which should have been instilled into him eight years ago ought now to have blossomed and borne fruit. If they have not, the boy is in danger. Why? Because he sees a world in which the scientists are producing things about which has mankind dreamed for centuries—and It could be such a happy world. But he also <ees that it is a world split in twain by two conflicting ideological doctrines or moral codes—one half Christian, the other half atheistic. He sees fear abroad, international tension, hears much talk of war and of unhappiness in many parts of the world—such as millions of refugees wandering about, not only homeless but Stateless. There were no such happenings when I was a boy. nor was I subjected to the temptations which confront

a boy today due to the progress of civilisation. But in my adult life, during two world wars, there has been the most incredible cruelty inflicted on humanity by nations calling themselves civilised. The contrast is clear—a world of immense and wonderful possibilities, a happy and beautiful world, and man’s ugly misuse of the same world.

Are we not all living in a mist of self-deception, in a world- in which materialism holds sway and spiritual values have been discarded? For example, consider the many advertisements which confront us wherever we go and which undoubtedly influence many people. They suggest that the answer to every problem can be bought with money. Do you want happiness in your home? Then buy this vacuum cleaner, or that kind of breakfast food, or this soap, or drink that beer. Of course, not everybody is deceived by all this, but the adolescent boy is in danger when living in such a mist of self-deception. Our British boys have, we hope, been brought up in Christian homes; they have probably heard sermons about Christ and told that the world would be a better place it there were more of His kind. But that is no answer to the boy’s troubles. Christ does not ask the boy to idolise Him; what He asks one and all to do is support His cause. Not “idolise Me,’’ but “follow Me.” He then gives us a set of principles and an unforgettable example.

“Our Duty Is Plain” If we Christian people can understand and accept all this, then our duty is plain. It is this—if the world is to come through the present turmoil and unrest safely and sanely, we must live the real life, we must follow His example instead of groping in the dark. He claims to be the light we need; no other man has ever made that claim. Now we can see how difficult it is for the boy of today, and what a gigantic task confronts the parent and the schoolmaster—to explain all this to boys and to influence them to take the right road. And the task is made far more difficult by modern conditions of life—a life in which the boy faces temptations and problems greater than any of us had to face when we were young. The thrillers, gangster films, broken homes due to laxity in the marriage obligations. the advertisement of sex in certain newspapers—all these impose a severe strain on the adolescent boy. and the development of character under such conditions is not easy.

Civilisation And Science

Then the progress of civilisation and science has introduced other problems. As the boy passes through the adolescent stage and grows to manhood, he will find that his visual world has been extended. He can go to the cinema and see how people live and behave in other parts of the world. In the home he has the radio and the television; he can “listen in" to world affairs and home affairs; he can hear specialists talk on almost any subject. He can read in the newspaper about socialist agitators, the cry for more pay and less work, and presentday industrial problems. Because of all these things, the adolescent boy can measure his everyday environment in a way impossible 50 years ago; and as he grows up he will be unlikely to accept conditions of work not in keeping with the ideas he has absorbed. Hence it is essential that he should absorb the right ideas. He must learn to co-operate in a community. He must lea-n that one of the fundamentals of democratic life is voluntary self-discipline in the interests of the group to which he belongs; he must acquire the quality of subordination of self for the benefit of his comrades and the community in general. Above all, he must gain a balanced view of things, a balanced outlook on life. He must learn to keep his inward sense of proportion when outward things are distorted and difficult. Self-Discipline I have mentioned the word "discipline.” This word has a somewhat unpleasant sound to some people, possibly because it is not properly understood. The true basis of discipline is self-discipline; it erabrases the idea of self-control and self-restraint, and implies a life ordered and bounded by certain voluntary imposed limitations. These limitations may be considered as duties, or obligations, which we feel it necessary to fulfil. This conception of duty underlines the whole of Christian teaching on personal conduct, and must be impressed on every child from his nursery days onward—and certainly before he is six. Discipline may. in fact, be defined as “the performance of duty.” It has. I believe, a moral foundation which none of us need be afraid to admit.

Discipline has also what I call, for want of a better word, a social basis. All civilised communities demand a degree of self-control from their citizens. In the interests of the community as a whole each of us willingly submits

to the supremacy of the law and to the authority of its agents—the police. If anything is in short supply, we stand in a queue for it and do not fight for it in the shops—in England, at any rate. We all realise that the community as a whole makes demands on us as individuals; and in order that we may all live freely and happily together, we voluntarily impose upon ourselves a certain restraint.

Formation Of Character

Therefore, discipline has both a moral and a social foundation. And it is vital that this fact be impressed on the youth of our nation. The root of discipline is that “something” which a boy, a young man, must set above himself, and for whose greater value he will give up his own wishes in order that the Cause may prevail—in order that his community can continue. Where must the teaching begin? In the home. That is where the formation of character must begin. The boy must be taught that certain things are right and certain things are wrong; he must learn the foundations of honesty and sincerity, to speak the truth, and in the face of temptation to stand firm by what he believes to be right. The foundations of this teaching must begin early and be firmly in his childish mind by the time he reaches the age of six, so that when he begins to go to school he will not be "easy meat” for any evil influences he may encounter. Both parents must take part in this teaching, the mother initially, and the father taking over as the bt>y increases in years—and most certainly before he approaches the age of about 10.

We now come to the age when a boy leaves his primary or preparatory school

and moves on to a secondary, grammar or public school. This is a period when he will meet temptation. Will he throw overboard all he has been taught in the home, or will he hold fast to the principles of Christian behaviour? Companions’ Influence

Which is to happen will depend a good deal on the type of company he keeps at this vital stage in his life and also on what use he makes of his leisure time. There is a danger in too much leisure unless a boy is taught how to use it; aimless leisure leads to boredom and can be a menace; at this age a boy should be encouraged to have a hobby. He is now about thirteen and this is the time when he should find an outlet as a member of a really good youth organisation, or boys’ club; a good Cadet unit, or the Scouts, provides a first-class type of organisation, because there he will learn discipline and physical training and acquire a sense of duty. I believe in these movements because they provide a boy with a sound democratic group in which to grow up—while he is still young and struggling to form his own opinion. Through membership of such a group a boy will learn self-discipline, selfreliance, and "to give” rather than to get. Furthermore, through the friendships which he makes he will begin to learn the true meaning and value of comradeship. He does not merely enjoy the benefits of being able to take part in the games and other activities organised by his club; he learns by practice and example that he must play his full part as a responsible member of a team. (To Be Concluded Next Tuesday)

ICopyright Bernard Law, Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, 1961.1