The Upton Letters by Arthur Christopher Benson
page 33 of 247 (13%)
page 33 of 247 (13%)
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oneself by thinking that it is happier not to realise an ambition
and be disappointed, than to realise it and be disappointed. It all comes from over-estimating one's own powers, after all. If one is decently humble, no disappointment is possible; and such little successes as one does attain are like gleams of sunlight on a misty day.--Ever yours, T. B. UPTON, March 25, 1904. DEAR HERBERT,--You are quite right about conventionality in education. One of my perennial preoccupations here is how to encourage originality and independence among my boys. The great danger of public-school education nowadays, as you say, is the development of a type. It is not at all a bad type in many ways; the best specimens of the public-school type are young men who are generous, genial, unembarrassed, courageous, sensible, and active; but our system all tends to level character, and I do not feel sure whether it levels it up or levels it down. In old days the masters concerned themselves with the work of the boys only, and did not trouble their heads about how the boys amused themselves out of school. Vigorous boys organised games for themselves, and indolent |
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