BACK TO SCHOOL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19859, 1 February 1928, Page 13

BACK TO SCHOOL.

END OF THE HOLIDAYS. A VACATION OF SUNSHINE. FEELINGS OF AUCKLAND JUNIOR. The holidays are over. This morning Auckland Junior will go back to school after a vacation of practically continuous sunshine. " And high time, too," sighs many a mother. In this heat she is beginning to find that it is very hard work to have the family on holiday. Auckland Junior, a reasonable fellow on the whole, can appreciate his mother's attitude well enough, but in view of the heat and the general feeling of lassitude throughout the entire community, to say nothing of holiday plans that still await accomplishment, he has no doubt in his own mind that the reopening of schools before the end of February is a mistake. " The Painless System." The other evening he listened to one of the elders discoursing upon what ho called 1 the modern painless system o? education. Upon consideration, the boy was prepared to admit that the sys'em probably had improved to meet the needs of an improved type of child. 'lhe practice of self-expression, the Dalton and supcr-Dalton system, and all that " this freedom " means in school, implied that the child mind had advanced tremend ously. The stories the elders told about the stern rules of their young days and the manner knowledge was driven into young people by a daily ration of " taws " convinced Auckland Junior that he was a better boy than his father had been. If he had been forced to further conclusions he might have said that the new system had been made for the new boy. First Day Feelings. All the same, ho is just the same sort of chap his father was. The end of the holidays finds him in like case. While submitting to the inevitable, he feels that life is vety hard, and if he has a classmate who displays enthusiasm in resuming the pursuit of knowledge, he considers that such a one ought to be kicked. One consolation on opening day is the splendid chance there is of blowing about what was done during the vacation, Smith, who wont to a farm and was allowed to round up the cows on a podgy pony, is able, by a little mild exaggeration, to inform his chums that he went droving cattle on a stock pony, and cracked anything but a whip of plaited flax. The boating boys have no difficulty in presenting pictures of heavy seas and heavier fish. The boy who did not go away can spin a fair tale out of his experiences as voluntary assistant to a bread van man. All this h?lps the first day through. The Feminine Instinct. It seems to be easier for the girls. They have the interest of clothes. A new dress and a new hat and a new pair of shoes give a sense of well-being that tends to iucrease with tho years, but it is sufficiently strong in schoolgirls to give glamour to opening day. But tho feelings of those returning are pale compared with those of the wee ones who make their first appearance. They cross the threshold from babyhood to childhood. They enter a new, big world. To those who have been to kindergarten schools tho experience is not the great adventure it is to the others. The kindergarten detachment have done their recruit drill, and are more or less prepared to join the regular ranks. Some, indeed, are eager to do so. The six-year-old who has been informed that he has become too big a boy for the kindergarten and that he must now go with tha big boys, feels the pride of promotion, and shoulders his new bag with eagerness. The Wondering Babes. But the babes who have never before been away from their mothers are very doubtful about the whole thing. As a rale, they wear very grave faces and feel lonely, unless they happen to have a sister at the school. Occasionally they weep, and, if they have a vague idea of what it is all about, they seem to be of the opinion that a great deal of unnecessary time is being devoted to it. The day becomes decidedly long, even though the lady called teacher is entertaining enough. It is a long day for many of the monhers, too. Thov may be glad to have the older children back to school, but when the youngest goes with them, a point has been reached in her life that brings a heartache. She says good-bye to many thingsThe teachers, of course, return to their high duties with an enthusiasm that is backed by the energy stored up in six long weeks. Naturally, they are sure that their calling demands such a summer vacation for themselves, apart from the children. But, of course, the holiday habit is easily acquired.