RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32777, 30 November 1971, Page 25

RANDOM REMINDER

STUDENT APPLICATION

There is something prophetic (to many people) in the familiar saying that what is one man’s meat is another man’s poison. And it is perhaps good for society in general that this disparity does in fact exist. The community is all the better for it.

Entertainment is one recreational activity where there are such divergent views when it comes to a matter of acceptability. To some, a Shakespearean play if even performed by the most unaccomplished thespians is a joy to behold—and to listen to. Others, in distinct contrast, hold the Bard and nis works with a feeling approaching revulsion. Perhaps as school children they spent too many agonising hours alone with the man. And motion pictures. too, it seems, hold no universality of appeal. Theatre men will be the first to admit it, even if reluctantly.

And, in the world of music there are those who are held enthralled when listening to the rendition of Nocturne in E major by a Philharmonic Orchestra and turn a very deaf ear and sometimes a contorted face towards

their TV set when Hectors Hooligans or The Misfits get in the groove and belt out their message in mood music. But it is perhaps in business that likes and dislikes are mote readily discernible. The pert young stenographer in Room 4 Suite 6 would not change places with the sales girl in the departmental store, ground level, for all the world. And vice versa. And the man who loves outdoor work would writhe at the prospect of changing to a sedentary occupation. And sometimes, it seems even University students are prone to congratulate themselves

that they are studying law and are sympathetic with those of their acquaintance who have chosen engineering as their lot in life.

And most of them no doubt, would certainly not envy their fellow student at present working most diligently for his degree in sociology. He has suffered more vicissitudes than most of his fellow undergraduates. He has devoted a lot of care and attention to his thesis on juvenile delinquency but affirms that he is having extreme difficulty in collecting data. His project was to telephone a dozen Christchurch homes around’ 9 p.m. and ask the parents if they knew where their children were at that hour. “My first five calls,” he lamented, “were answered by children who had no idea where their parents were!”