CONFERENCE OF PUPILS

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31225, 24 November 1966, Page 22

CONFERENCE OF PUPILS

230 From 19 Schools

School leavers had to be realistic in assessing how they rated with their fellows, Mr R. B. Macfarlane, senior lecturer at the Christchurch Teachers' College, told 230 I boys and girls attending a sixth-form pupils’ conference The two-day conference has been organised by the Student Christian Movement, and is being attended by pupils from 19 public and private secondary schools.

Questions which young people should ask themselves [included how many decisions about the future had been made by themselves and how many by other people: whether they wanted to stay in one place or move about; and whether they could take competition, Mr Macfarlane said. There was no shame in admitting that one could not take competition. Mental hospitals were full of people who would not admit it, he said. One should organise one’s life to fulfill four main needs —staying alive and living healthfully; loving and being loved, being though well of by others: and enjoying variety and change.

Mr Macfarlane praised the egalitarian nature of New Zealand society. He criticised moves made towards stratification —such as the zoing of certain subdivisions as “executive.”

“What kind of social hell are we going to create for ourselves if we allow landdevelopers to choose who lives where?” he asked.