THE DRESS OF SCHOOLBOYS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20644, 16 February 1929, Page 10

THE DRESS OF SCHOOLBOYS.

AN M.P.’S CRITICISM,

ADVOCATE OF CHESS.

IMPORTANCE OF ORIGINALITY,

(From Oub Own Oorrespoitoent.) LONDON, December 21. Distributing prizes at Quainton Trail School, Harrow, Dr Graham Little, M.P., commented on the dress of schoolboys. He said too many schoolmasters were imbued with the idea of having all the boys dressing alike, and, if they could manage it, of thinking exactly alike too. He had endeavoured to persuade some of the big schools to break the silly custom of dressing up little boys in most uncomfortable clothes, stiff boots, heavy clumsy suits, and hard hats, all quite wrong things according to medical notions. “ It is very unfair that you boys have to suffer these things while your sisters aie so much more sensibly and conveniently dressed,” he said; “ But schoolmasters are very powerful. They usually are able to make parents do the things parents don’t like, and in this matter of clothes there never was such a weakkneed race as the parents of to-day, n S lna Jity is the most precious quality of the human mind; it' rs that quality which has produced the great thinkers, the great writers, the great inventors, and we used to be pre-eminent in this quality ourselves.” Dr Little then quoted remarks once made to him by a famous scientist, who said: You English people go your own way; you are the most insular and the most aloof nation on earth, and you are often ignorant of what other nations are doing; but you do somehow manage to stumble upon new ideas, perhaps iust because you are so mentally independent, it is that mental independence which educationists are concerned to retain as the most precious characteristic of our people.” Referring to the need of a hobby, Dr ; Graham Little said “ Those of you who are blessed with a' capacity for musical training may find that a very fruitful 1 pleasure, and its importance is becoming increasingly recognised at the public schools. The great and famous foundation, your near neighbour ( Harrow School, has made a notable reputation by the attention which it pays to the cultivation of music. ■ “I am personally an enthusiast for teaching chess to young boys and girls. -Inat, again, is a game which fosters concentration perhaps more than any other. It can be played at all times of life, and very happily at the end of life, and it also cultivates valuable qualities of J character and mind,”