LONDON LOSING ITS BAD BOYS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10462, 23 May 1910, Page 1

LONDON LOSING ITS BAD BOYS.

SCHOOL INFLUENCE ON MANNERS.

'What has forty years of public elementary education done for country ?" was the question, raised in the course of an inquiry by Mr \R.-Blair, head of the London County Council Education Service, and. answers from various sources are published in a repcirt recently issued. 1 ; ■Mr Blair, introducing the matter, says that it is a common accusation against .the "Board, school * children tlilit their manners are bad. "I do believe that this is generally true, lie saVs, and he produces a mass of corroborative evidence. Mr "W. L. Claque, a district inspector, whose experience extends as far back as 1870, savs "the pupil has changed great-ly-for the better." The manners over latfge - tracts of London have distinctly improved. "The tone has improved, until it-runs some danger of deteriorate ing in an opposite direction./ Tone was often too hard if discipline had to be effective; now it occasionially "runs the risk of becoming .too. soft. . . . We probably do not turn out better readers, better arithmeticians, better spellers, better writers, but in matters pertaining to expression, observation, and thought we have made great progress. Mr W. A. Nicholls, a headmaster with thirtv-nine years' service, says the child of ; to-day "is more intelligent, lias a better vocabulary (thought it is still vetj" scanty), greater correctness or speech, greater receptivity than the child of _ forty years ago. Children in the poorest quarters salute their teachers by raising their caps. Gross insubordination has almost disappeared. Boys and girls are gentler in their manners. Boys will: still be boys (thank Heaven), and there are occasional outbursts. The schools have had the effect of turning a purer language upon the children. "Were it not for its 400 schools, London would be overrun with a horde of young savages." Quotes Mr E. Bolus (of "VYilniot street school. Bethnal Green). There is more sense of fairness, a higher sense of honor, a keener perception of right- and wrong, and a greater susceptibility to higher motives, he declares. "Youths have learned to show a nroper respect to the girls on account of'their sex, and the girls, while letaining their natural and modest demeanour, are more natural, trustful, and less affected than formerly. The general relations between youths and young girls seem to be "thoroughly natural, wholesome, and correct."