THE BOY AND THE MAN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 4 August 1931, Page 5

THE BOY AND THE MAN

DULL DAYS AT SCHOOL I: * LIMITED GUIDE TO FUTURE . • _ SYDNEY, 18th July. Some interesting views have been obtained in Melbourne as to whether it is-' possible to forezell the future of aby his aptitude or inaptitude for school '*'• work. ‘ . • - Dr. Littlejohn, the principal of Scots College, said, “It doesn’t follow that the brilliant boy • who carries off . all' -the prizes and scholarships will tvin all the prizes in after life. He may lack the very qualities that count for success in the career he takes up—say. business or some commercial sphere. On the other hand, he may be fitted by his education and training at school for a certain'-” career which may never be his.- He’may y be one of the ‘mute inglorious Miltons.’”,’ “A boy who has the natural qualities which make for success, such as sterling ' character and personality, or the to handle men, may have rather a bad’-' time in getting through his examinations , at school, and may be ‘ploughed’ at ,the - university. But he is a success ip’afterlife if he only gets his chance to develop. Character and personality are the things that matter most.” . . - Mr Adamson, principal of Wesley Gdl-

[lege, remarked that there was no hard . and fast rule. “There are many in- w stances,” he said, ‘‘of the boy who was dull at school but. who got to the top of the tree afterwards, and became a successful business man. On the other - hand,! would hardly expect the boy who was dull at school to be very brilliant at' the .university.” ,‘.,V:

The Director of Education, Mr Han-AT, sen, said it was an old, old problem. He <?• quoted Bacon, who wrote in the 16tli century-: “There be some have an over- > early ripeness in their years,', which Z fadeth betimes. These are. first, suclra’B "t have, brittle wits, the edge thereof is soon turned. A second sort is of those ‘ wljolhave better.grace in youth than in > age.-*,’ > ' . ? Mr G. M. Wallace, the editor of the ->> publications of the Education Depart- £■ ment, cited the case of Sir Walter Scott, •* who was the dunce of his class at school. £, “That was a case of delayed genius, and a late maturity,”-said Mr Wallace. ',l “Some boys are very late in blooming.”