Grammar Boys

As an old boy myself at the current age of 41, I find myself wishing I had been born later so that I could have attended when John Morris was headmaster. I was like so many other boys in a low stream, and I continued to descend lower and lower with each year due to several factors. Constant teasing and bullying destroyed my self esteem at the time which affected my academic performance enormously. Fortunately I did not get physically bullied very much, but I witnessed several others who were to the point that I suspect they were contemplating suicide. The school had at the time a very "Stiff upper lip" attitude in regard to these types of problems, and I think had I been mentored properly by various Form teachers and other more confident students I would have achieved more vocationally and in other areas of life.

This was an enjoyable and moving documentary for me to watch, and I do feel grateful to have attended this School despite my somewhat negative experiences of it. Most of the teachers were and still are excellent, but for 'outliers' such as myself and others a more intuitive approach to male leadership is/was needed. In particular the School tends to favor those students with an extroverted psychological makeup rather than an introverted one, which equates to a lot of potential talent being missed when it should be promoted equally.

I do think the documentary could have been more critical, but there have been other ones funded by NZ On Air which were more so, in the past. Hopefully some of them may appear on this site in the future. I'd like to think that this review constitutes constructive criticism, and to those who disagree with my opinion I would encourage them to reflect on the well known saying - that there are two sides to every story...

Proud to be a Grammar boy! 03 - 07

Love the elitist nature, exams & sport as the only measure of achievement and the absolute freedom to compete.

What a shame they don't accept girls. I would have loved it!