WHEN LEAVING SCHOOL

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 140, 10 December 1931, Page 13

WHEN LEAVING SCHOOL

IDEALS OF SERVICE

Mrs. E. W. Kane, Ph.B., a member of the Board of College Governors, who addressed "the girls' at the prize-giving of Wellington Girls' College (Pipitea street) at the Concert Chamber last evening, spoke ■• interestingly on the possibilities of life nowadays, as compared with those of former times. She emphasised the fact that school lossons arc only the first in life, and-that life itself -.-teaches, -all tho time—good, ,les-, sons, hard':, ones,■■'and sad ones, ; Tho first five years after leaving school were most important, for they greatly determined character. She developed amusingly tho difference in tho ideal and outlook of the girl of the past, who was only half-educated with a few superficial accomplishments, and who had then to retire home and hope for a husband, and the girl of to-day who is thoroughly well grounded and educated, who goes out into a world prepared for her by the work and sacrifice of splendid women of the past (some being mentioned) to the possibilities of being doctors, lawyers, and successful business women. The shingled heads and short skirts were just typical of the liberty and comfort allowed to them by the wideness of mind of the older people. Mrs. Kane urged that tho girls'should use the liberty well, and not abuse it. They each had. an inherent knowledge of right and wrong, sometimes called' instinct, sometimes conscience, and sometimes the "Voice of God." However they regarded it she urged that they should be guided by the best, and quoted "To thine own solf be- true.:" The old snobbishness about earning a living had quite departed, much to the advantage of girls in particular, and "old-fashioned parents'? were now broad-minded and wise enough to not only give in to this liberty, but to take advantage of it. The great thing for tho girls to. consider was, in taking the privileges, given them, were they prepared to give full value in return? Duties spoke- to each in a different language, said MrsKane, and she asked that each girl should recognise that in having the splendid advantage of education given thorn, that they should "balance their budget," pay their debt to their country —a debt of honour to b"e paid by good citizenship, and a realisation of the duties they owed to others. Mrs. Kane spoke then of tho part women could take in preventing slums in the cities and-of civic cleanilnoss. of all kinds, and, in conclusion, urged that they should have the highest ideals of truth, honour, and service.