HIGH SCHOOL HIGH JINKS

NZ Truth, Issue 1198, 15 November 1928, Page 10

HIGH SCHOOL HIGH JINKS

Those Secret Night Meetings of Masterton Pupils (From "N.Z. Truth's" Masterton Representative.) Is it the jDiser course, after all, for school authorities to plant immovable barriers between the sexes ? What real influence on young minds has that mini which sees evil m a school-boy's calf-looe glance at the sun-kissed curl on a girl's soft cheek ? What follows when the teacher's ear interprets sin from the chatter of the playground and the laughttr of pupils out of school?

THE principal of the Wairarapa High School is not m an enviable position at the present time. Confronted with the problem of conducting a mixed school—considered an mstitution of splendid decorum—he adopted a method of strictness calculated to nip m the bud any undue cooperation between the sexes and to ensure the running of the institution on smooth wheels. That something has gone radically wrong with the cogs is shown by the fact that a large handful of the boys and girls at the school have been resorting to secret meetings to obtain intercourse denied them healthily and m ordinary circumstances. It has come as a shock to trusting parents to learn that secret rendezvous have been held by the pupils m an empty house m Masterton. That the pupils should resort to such practices, and that such practices should have been regular and recurring, shows that something is wrong somewhere. What makes the position all the more alarming is that the present occasion is not the first on which such a thing has occurred. Similar behavior on the part of certain pupils of the school, of both sexes, was discovered not so long ago. At that time the pupils concerned were discovered to be meeting claridestinely m another part of the town,

mysterious, alluring, desirable becaust of the very ban. Has Victorian influence ana its misguided notions not yet been overcome m schools to-day? Has not our advanc.ed system of education progressed to the point of common sense? Is the system of school control to: clay on the wrong lines, or is it thai the moral standard of young New Zealanders is on the down grade? jf the case of c Wairarapa High School is any criterion, then it wou|^ appear that the foursqrare ideal—physical, mental, mora| anc|. social—is sadly lopsided, ' . We need no telling m these days tnaf no good can come from the antiquated method of hiding sea ln tne flurk and making of it a shapeless monster, pacing its prison with cloven feet. • , The thoughts pf youth are long, long thoughts, especially when without a proper guide, and its curiosity is irrepressible. The power of suggestion is greatthe known is finite but the unknowr is infinite. Only by bringing sex oul into the light and learning of it sanelj can there be healthiness, clean-mind-edness and right living, For school boys and girls to meet together clandestinely as pupils of th« Wairarapa High School have done is no sign of healthiness. Starved of lnnocent intercourse, youthful curiosity

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinniiiiiii Only the inevitable smirch upon the name of the school saved their expulsion. That the name of the school is counted of little worth, however, is shown by the behavior of those m the present escapade. Dr. G. H. Uttley, the principal of the school, has a roll number of 182 boys and 115 girls m his charge. They are taught m mixe^d classes m one institution. It is common knowledge that he rules the school with an iron hand. He admits it. He has said:. "I know I am strict, but while I am m charge of this school I am responsible for its conduct." If that is the case, then what has lie to say about the responsibility for what has occurred? Mixed schools must always present a difficulty. Separate institutions might result m less trouble externally, but that is only evading the issue. That there is bad m some youngsters is not to be denied, but wholesale suppression has not, m this case, solved the problem. Pupils of opposite sexes at the school are not allowed to talk to each other or to enjoy ordinary social intercourse. While it Is not a denominational institution, the scholars of the Wairarapa High School are required to act almost as young 1 monks, and Puritan' maidens, pursuing their studious course m cloudy elevation, filing out at : the last bell with heads averted from the other sex as from something unclean and unwholesome. And that something has become ! i

iiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiii becomes covert and perverted. Innocence turns to deceit. The venue these curious young folk selected for their meeting- place was a large old house known as "The fines." It is a dilapidated residence, secluded and sufficiently distant from the school and away from all suppression. "The Pines'- 1 has been empty for a considerable time — since it was made notorious and vacated by a band of sly-groggers. Here the boys and girls met together for some time, taking all the care they could that they should not be seen, and having a laugh at all rules and regulations. However, unfortunately for them their private little club was at length suspected. Their constant visits were noticed and a watch was kept. What was going on at "The Pines" was at last dragged into the light. Pupils approaching a score m number, and of both sexes, were confronted with their guilt by Dr. Uttley. His wrath was of no small order. He ordered them to tell their parents of their doings and to return with notes from their parents to prove it. A warning was issued that any pupil found again at "The Pines" would be prosecuted for being illegally on the premises. There was an interview with the police. Such are the facts of the case. Whether the Doctor has suppressed effectually the evil m his school that has shown, its horns for the second time, remains to be seen. Obviously, some kind of seed is germinating m the school, but so far the flowers from it are not wholesome.