AMERICAN KINDNESS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 939, 8 December 1933, Page 9

AMERICAN KINDNESS.

N.Z. Girl Writes of Her Reception in U.S.A. Miss Rene Wilkie, of Dunedin, who is the holder of the Carnegie Kindergarten Scholarship for 1933-34, writes glowing letters to a Wellington friend of her life at the Columbia University, New York. She is having a wonderful time, and finds the American people the essence of kindness. She write?; “ They can’t seem to do enough to help a stranger feel at home. One American lady I met on the boat insisted that I should stay at her apartment in New York for the first few days; so, you see, I had a very happy to New York. She took me to see the famous Aquarium, the Metropolitan Museum, the theatres, and she also explained all the traffic regulations till I felt ‘she would exhaust herself completely on my behalf. “ Mr Russell, of the Carnegie Trust, arranged for my room at the International, and he also introduced me to people who would help me to map out my. course ai.the .Teachers’ College. I am taking 16 points, that is 16 lectures of an hour, each week, on .kindergarten work. We study psychology, philosophy, modelling, blackboard drawing, and an interesting course in American education for foreign students. Next week we are going for a five-day trip into Co'nnectictft" arid "Massachusetts to see different' types ~of administration and various representative schools. “ Life is wonderfully interesting here; we meet and talk with Germans, Indians. Americans, French, English and Chinese, and I find all so very much alike —? under their skins \ New Zealand seems to exercise a great fascination for all the people here, and I am kept busy showing my photographs and talking. The American girls are constantly telling me the way I talk is * cute