Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1908. PUBLIC SCHOOL TRADITIONS.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 4345, 5 December 1908, Page 2

Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1908. PUBLIC SCHOOL TRADITIONS.

This above all—to thine own self be true , 1 nd it must follow as the night the day Ihou const not then be false to any man Shakespeare.

Wobd was cabled to us quite recently of a visit paid by Their Majesties King Edward and Queen Alexandra to Eton for the purpose of opening a new hall and library which have been erected as a memorial to the Etonians who fell in the South African War. At the ceremony His Majesty made reference to the traditions which had made Eton famous, and charged the boy« present to maintain those traditions. M This is one of those events which impress upon the mind of the general public the immense importance of tradition as a factor in the Shaping of the character of the young, and stimulating them to high conduct and notable achievement. The ancient schools of the old land have their traditions just as the ancient colleges have theirs. Eton and Harrow and Rugby have each their own tradition, their own list of noted names, and the same thing is true in a more limited sense of the schools of these newer .lands (it will be true of course in a much larger sense when the history whiefy is in the making has taken on the seal of antiquity). Still, even now, in a local sense, and in the hearts of the old boys and girls, there are memories associated with the brown interiors, and ink-spattered desks of our schoolhouses which are in them-i selves a challenge to brave conduct : and noble achievement. Who does not know with what reverence the headmaster points to the brass tablet placed over the plain mantelshelf in the wide schoolroom, to commemorate the heroic service of some old boy who has gone, via the searching veldt, to join the great majority. This is the spot to which the visitor is conducted after a flaghoisting, or a school-ground review on Empire Dry, to be shown what the school has already contributed toward the Empire’s advance. And it is the sort of thing which goes to build up that most potent factor in the making of the boys and girls of the present into the men and women of the future, namely, a tradition. We cannot overrate the value of ! school tradition, because here the child enters into a relation with his fellows, which is a foreshadowing of his relations with his fellows in the State, and in the Empire. Every conceivable means should be taken to foster the sense of loyalty to the school’s reputation, the desire that the school to which the boy or girl belongs shall win fame both in the world of learning, and in the world of serviceable deeds. One method by which something might be contributed toward building up the sense of “school-con-sciousness,” to transpose a phrase, would be the wearing of a school badge. If we only reflect for a moment upon the sense of increased importance which comes with the adoption of any badge or hatband, or anything indeed which denotes identification with a respected institution, we shall see the sense of this proposal. We would not suggest a uniform badge for all the public board schools. This would be perhaps almost as valueless as the child’s school kit for purposes of individualization, What we should recommend would be the adoption of some symbol for each school designed by the children and teachers How proudly such a badge would be cherished by the pupils belonging to a school which had given a Rhodes scholar to the Dominion, ora noted statesman to Parliament, or a famous doctor to the medical profession, we need hardly say. And how much more proudly it would be wornby those who felt that to their particular school was ascribed the reputation for more than ordinary courage, or originality, or research. Each pupil who achieved distinction,!whether moral or physical or intellectual would shed lustre upon that particular school to which he belonged, just es the Rhodes scholar of the current year shed lustre upon his school, (for Mr Zyman was a board school boy,) and each fresh achievemeut would be a challenge to all the rest of the school to do likewise. It will be remembered, by those who were privileged to be present at the last capping ceremony in Auckland Professor Seagar spoke of the advantage of a boy's attending the board school, in that he there gained thorough intercourse with his fellows, the very qualities which recommended him as a successful candidate for the scholarship. In our board schools are to be found the great ones of to-morrow, and the influence they will wield upon the future will be greatly augmented by any | effort which can now be put forth to line them more conspicuously with the school and the district which has given them to the Empire.