Southerly: Life at Paremoremo Boys' High
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Glenn Pearce wrote:
I suspect if you were about to enter high school now it would be Western Springs College that your parents would be fighting to get you into.....
Weird. I went to Seddon High School (as WSC was then known), at the same time as David and my experiences were not very different - however, the Europeans weren't picked on too much, because the Tongans and Samoans fought each other most of the time (King Cobras vs the Headhunters (I think)). The principal was distant, and the deputy principal was a sadist (it seems that this was a job requirement in the 70's and 80's).
Rugby was very much part of the culture. There was many a second year 5th, and/or 6th former who was only in school because the first XV wanted their skills.
I managed to have a bit of kudos by being in the 1st XI hockey team from 3rd form on (we only managed to scrape together a single team), since going onto the field to play a team sport armed with sticks was seen as a pretty brave move by the rugby players.
Paul Campbell wrote :
We knuckled under and worked together to crack this bursary thing - I'm pretty sure we all passed - everyone else who'd been accredited slagged off and went to the beach - still being 16 I couldn't just hare of to Uni - instead I went in to 7th form - and slagged off for an entire year, even occasionally went to the beach, sat bursary again and got a lower score in most subjects ....
That's similar to my story to, except that I knew I was going for bursary from half way through the year. I did okay (B Bursary) considering I'd hardly covered any of the syllabus. I then had a ball in the 7th form, the most enjoyable year of my school life, and only got an A bursary at the end of it (though my scores would've gotten a Scholarship the year before or the following year, for some bizarre reason it wasn't enough my year).
Stephen Walker wrote:
and all-year-round shorts from day one until the end of 7th form.
At least at Seddon we got to wear longs in the middle term from the 5th form on.
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I am very pleased that I never tried to get into Epsom Girls Grammar
It wasn't too bad. After the suggestion that I leave (from the Deputy Head, which I have no idea why ;) I moved onto Selwyn College which was great socially, (co-ed) but I quickly learnt that although 1 year up, I seemed to be repeating the syllabus from EGGS so of course that made life easy as there was now no thinking required, all one had to do was rewrite my work and I even received better grades.
EGGS turned out Helen Clark, Jeanette Fitzsimons , Karen Walker which indicates a diverse bunch methinks. I do remember the checking of regulation undies which I thought ( and consequently got detention for) was completely inappropriate and they didn't like hair colour (another disobedience detention)I happened to like green at the time :) In retrospect I am glad I got to go to both schools. -
Stephen Walker wrote:
and all-year-round shorts from day one until the end of 7th form.At a Dunedin boys school in the sixties we took a perverse pleasure in wearing shorts in the 7th form. Longs were optional but hardly anybody did. I can’t remember why - it might just have been the practicalities of being able to play rough and tumble games on muddy winter fields at break times, easier in shorts than longs. Occasional letters to the editor complained about the hairy legs of men dressed as boys around town – but for some reason we were proud of the fact. Weird.
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Interestingly enough, I don't know whether uniforms were ever widespread in Canadian schools. I would hazard a guess they weren't (imagine setting a uniform raincoat in Vancouver, or a uniform parka and balaclava in Edmonton....)
Heh, You will certainly find plenty of rain gear worn in Vancouver schools, that's for sure. Looking through the yearbook there are many Goretex jackets.
I do remember the checking of regulation undies which I thought ( and consequently got detention for
Good god! For real?
They already obsess enough about minutiae such as gender-specific rules for hair-length, hair ties, the number and size of earrings......
They're not big on gender roles in Canadian schools. We had the traditional Homecoming Queen, but we also had Homecoming Queens which involved many boys in drag. There would be the final crowning of the the Mr. Mt View. I remember a lot of girls talked their boyfriends into it for the pleasure of applying makeup to them.
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dyan, you remind me somehow of today's first comic from Kate Beaton.
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Cheers Stephen, I was loving the duck myself.
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Good god! For real?
Yep, had to be blue.I guess it wasn't even considered inappropriate with only one male in the school though which was the Deputy Head. It was a year in which there were uniform issues and changes of regulations. The Principal left and a more liberal one replaced her, which I think helped a lot of the ridiculous Victorian attitude.
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dyan, you remind me somehow of today's first comic from Kate Beaton.
Thank you Stephen, but much as I enjoy the RCMP's reputation as the most adorable of all Federal Police, I have to say their reputation is a little... nicer than the reality. [(http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/aboriginals/starlighttours.html|CBC News In Depth: Aboriginal Canadians )]
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And while the Starlight Tours were courtesy of the Provincial police, (Saskatchewan) the RCMP (Federal Police) could be depended upon to find the provincial cops did nothing wrong...
And here is an RCMP investigation that absolves the RCMP themselves...
[(http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ccaps/sled_dogs_final_e.htm|Final Report: RCMP Review of Allegations Concerning Inuit Sled Dogs)]
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