School-Day Opportunities

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23009, 9 April 1938, Page 6 (Supplement)

School-Day Opportunities

By JOSEPHINE BLIGH

u "yoUR school days are the happiest days in your life, so make the most of them." This advice, repeated bo often when I was a school-giri, used to puzzle me considerably. Why on earth, X used to say to mysielf, would anyone prefer youth, with its homework and discipline, to the freedom and power of adulthood 1 Grown-ups seemed to live such a wonderful existence. They had such privileges. They could wear what they liked, look as old as they liked and go where they liked. They could stay up as late as they liked and read whatever book they chose at whatever time suited them. School-days, indeed !

It was not until many years later that I realised what good advifce it was and wished that I had takim it. But in 'those days the future was so distant and cloudy. The present was all that mattered. Doubtless had we known just exactly what was in store for us and in what sphere of life we were to succeed we might have made more of our opportunities. But who bothered to look further ahead than the examinations at the end of the year and the glorious holidays that followed? ; Lost Opportunities, f

Little did we realise that some day ■jwe might look back and long for lost opportunities, especially opportunities for storing up more knowledge. For knowledge, we discover later, is so valuable. It gives support, confidence, and is the main ingredient of ths,t enviable attribute, poise. v ! The trouble is, of course, that the subjects most easily forgotten are those

4, . Age Time hat\ come, our fairie bower, With solemn sons and story dour. Lot he steals, with his glass and scythe. From us, life's happiest hour. Old are our hands, and sunburnt brown, Worked long in labour's wretched town. Gone our youth; We have but sleep . . . Old Age our heads lo crown-

Frail memory weeps, and treasures seem But cobwebs of a mystic dream, sVhile Romance unattended dies, -0 And Time oar end doth deem. Enchantment falls, and our love fails : Life's bright hued sky, in evening pales. The night birds call, and We are grey; » Years dim the endless trails. I'M —H. Matthew

in after life are the most valuable. "English as she is spoke" usually dingers quite satisfactorily in the brain, ;and seldom do we need to remember lyery much in the mathematical line — ■jinless, of course, one is destined to iljflelve deeper into high finance than a few weekly household bills. It is subjects like geography and history that seem to let us down at the wrong moments. Geography can be particularly elusive. London and Paris are not ■as a rulO difficult to locate, but odd places as, for instance, Minorca, might be anywhere. It is so terribly difficult .♦ ..to, keep one's poise when somi?one mentions Minorca and one cannot for the ttfe of one think whether it is an island in the West Indies, a province in Africa or a town in Spain. History, too, is apt ifco take the form of a few vague memories as school days become further and further away. However, thanks to (.George Arliss and a few other film actors, our history has in the last few years received a most beneficial brushing up< % Not in Text Books

- But though history and geography fere both included in the school curriculum and ignorance of them purely our .own fault, there are other subjects just 'ias useful which are not included. Problems never to be found in any text book ;we find later facing us at every turn, •jj'or instance, what subject studied durring school hours is of any assistance when one is faced with the necessity of telling the butcher that one is not satisfied with the meat? and has decided to make a change; or telling the charwoman that the blue water is too cblue and that she has overlooked the dust under the carpet, i-' But this is only the domestic side of life," and it is generally considered that it requires neither knowledge nor study. To be in a responsible position in any 'other sphere needs experience and qualifications, but when a bride takes upon herself the responsibilities of a household and the sys- / terns of its occupants no one dreams of asking her what her qualifications might ,be. Perhaps if girls left school knowing a little more about the subi'ect of, diet there would be fewer hus>ands who in later life are reduced to • a diet of milk puddings, lettuce leaves and diy biscuits and fewer children storing up in their, bodies the ills that will make their old age miserable.

' A "GROW-UP" LOOKS BACK

Tact is another asset which might with advantage be acquired during adolescence. With what confidence w© would enter the state of adulthood if this quality had been part of our early education! Whether or not one has aspirations toward presiding over committees, taking a lofty seat on the social merry-go-round, or keeping a husband where he should be kept, tact is always a useful commodity. Who can but envy the woman who can refuse an invitation with finesse when the only genuine excuse is that she didn't want to go, or her husband wouldn't. Or the woman who can take her husband away from his armchair by the fire, dress him up in his stiff shirt, take him to a party and still prese:rve harmony in the home I A Sense of Humour Further qualifications which in after life are more valuable than all the university degrees put together are a sense of humour and a good personality. These, it is claimed, can both be acquired, and in some countries successful attempts are being made to develop them during school days. Realising how important to success and happiness is a sense of humour, an American university is offering a course to students. The aim is to help them to see the funny side, of life and more especially of themselves, and there is even a special examination at the end of the course. The development of personality seems still to be in the research stage, but it has been found that this valuable attribute' does not necessarily accompany extensive study and the 1 acquisition of degrees. In fact, Henry 0. Link, Ph.D., writing in the Reader s Digest, says: "People's minds may improve ' while their personalities deteriorate." So that the problem which roust be solved (and wjiy not in New Zealand?) is how to improve the mind and the personality at the same time!