Family Argument

New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 401, 28 February 1947, Page 14

Family Argument

\VHAT I found most striking about 2ZB’s Voice of Youth session when I heard it for the first time on a recent Sunday was the participants’ complete lack of self-consc ousness in front of the microphone. In fact, one might have been listening in to one of the betterconducted family arguments, with all the contributors quite uninhibited and permitting themselves an occasional] :ndulgence in loud derision. That few family arguments are so well-conducted is probably due to the fact that the average pére is not as much a specialist in the job as 2ZB’s compére. Another interesting feature was the way the childrer tak.ng part tended to. typecast themselves-the gentle but authoritative . female Darcy (May, I think it was), and -the Tough Guy who interjected "Infamous, not Famous,’ when somebody referred to Shakespeare’s famous speeches. The topic for discussion, by the way, was "Do you enjoy the study -of Shakespeare in school?" or alternatively "Does the study of Shakespeare in school spoil your apprec ation of him?" It seemed to be a case of Quot homines, tot sententiae, and the compere was as hard put to it as UN to find a permanent meeiting-place. But with the infinite patience and cunning of a Chips Rafferty getting his mob across Australia or a Noah his animals into the Ark, Mr, Edwards at last. got his little team nfarshalled on the common ground of "Whether you enjoy or do not enjoy the study of Shakespeare in school depends entirely on the way it is taught." Not a surprising conclusion, and one we had already reached ourselves un_prempted by the Voice of Youth, But e session’s value is not so much in its intellectual content as in its human interest, and from this angle we strongly | recommend it. It is moreover one of the few Youth Shows which deal with bright, not flaming Youth. :