SCHOOL TRADITIONS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19758, 12 October 1938, Page 12

SCHOOL TRADITIONS

PLEA FOR PRESERVATION "OLD SCHOOL TIE" The value of the traditions of the big secondary schools of the Dominion was that in times of change they made a solid foundation on which to base a new system, said Mr. C. M. Turrell, president of the Christ's College Old Boys' Association, in an address at the annual dinner of the association in Christchurch.

"That is my view, and that is one of the reasons why 1 thank Heaven for the existence of our own and other similar schools in New Zealand, which have sound traditions behind them. Let us see that those traditions are not destroyed by those who have none or who do not understand them-

"I may be old-fashioned in feeling that tradition is still of great value: but. I agree that we must not let

tradition overpower us. We must give way to change, but let that change be based on the best that is in our tradition. The modern fashion is to sneer at the 'old school tie.' It is a cheap catch-cry to raise a laugh, but 1 hold that the 'old school tie is emblematic of the love for our school and its best traditions, which, after all. is the basis of patriotism, stated Mr. Turrell. The traditions of the school were surely a sound basis for any new system, said Mr. Turrell. If this foundation were destroyed, the new building would be unsafe. That was his view, and was why lie thanked Heaven for the existence of Christ s College and other similar schools m New Zealand.