BOYS AND GIRLS

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 October 1934, Page 3

BOYS AND GIRLS

MEETING “ON THE LEVEL.” The advantage of co-education was urged by Dr Jane Hawthorne at the New Health summer school at Malvern, recently. . “When a boy is denied the friendship of girls,” she .said, “girls appear to him as goldenhaired goddesses. Later, of course, he is unpleasantly disillusioned. “When a boy is able to meet girls, on the level, at school, glamour vanishes —but intelligent, healthy friendship remains. “Contrary to popular'’ belief, there are practically no flirtations in coeducational. schools. If flirtations do spring up they are usually very mild, and they do not last long. “If a boy and girl carry on a flirtation they soon stop it, because the other- boys and girls look on it with ■great indignation* as something which is spoiling a good thing. Coeducation produces greater respect between the sexes. Boys value girls more because they learn to realise that girls can do things as well as they can themselves.

“True respect cannot be based on ignorance. The boy expects more of a girl when he realises her good qualities, and if he expects more he will give more. The success of a coeducational school depends on .the tone set by the head, and where that

tone is good a boy will develop .a much better ideal of the relations between the sexes.”

Dr Jane . said that following her suggestion that the socalled untruthful child might be merely imaginative, she had received a letter from a woman describing a relative, a little girl, with no brothers or sisters, who had ; invented a sister. The girl spoke of- the activities of this imaginary child: in a most circumstantial way. ' When a visitor came to the house, heard about this other sister and asked to see her, the little girl was ■always able to account for her absence in a completely satisfactory manner. That girl was now a famous doctor. Dr fjawthorne added that her correspondent mentioned a similar ca£e of a. little girl who had brothers and sisters, but, not content with them, she- invented two extra sisters whom : she called “Lonesome” and ’‘Wendy.” She was even willing to discuss their progress at the local high- school. That girl recently graduated very successfully at a university.