SCHOOL CONTRIBUTIONS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11729, 20 June 1916, Page 6

SCHOOL CONTRIBUTIONS.

* TO WAR GIFT FUNDS. "I was glad to see in one of the morning newspapers," s aid the father of a young family to a " Star " reporter to-day, "that a lotter had appeared protesting against the 'cadging' for gifts for soldiers in one of the city primary schools. My children have suffered through not taking gifts, and T know of other cases. .Nearly every week they come home and talk about * .something tinned' for the soldiers, or a penny for soldiers' comforts, or threepence for the Navy. If their mother is too busy to attend to the matter, or there isn't, an odd threepence in the house, they go to school without a gift, and from what they tell me there, are teachers who make decidedly invidious distinctions between the good little boys who bring pennies and the bad 'ittle boys who don't. " One ot roy boys said that a teacher had reflected on his action in not bringing a penny, and to a small child such words from a teacher, even if lightly spoken, may be taken as severe censure. Then, again, one has to remember that many youngsters can be just as snobbish as their elders, a.ud those who are not wealthy enough to bring money or tinned fish, are not allowed to escape the sarcastic remarks of their more fortunate fellows. " I think, with the writer of the letter, that there is quite enough collecting for funds without collaring the store' pennies or. making them feel small before a class because they have forgotten the sardines. .Anyway, it is the teachers who get the credit for the 'spontaneous gifts,' not the poor youngsters, and the teachers should, in my opinion, confine their activities to their legitimate duties. lam too poor to give canned fish and jam t n soldiers, hut my children have to suffer for it."