5.1.1976

One thing that won't have changed is school. School represents the constant, K. If X represents my attitudes towards society then it becomes KX, K+X, K-X, X-K. This implies that the present (or past) effects of school is inescapable. I believe that this holds good.
Single-sex schools, I could well believe, tend to produce the highest number of neurotics, after all, if neuroses and fears of the opposite sex are not sorted out in school, where then? Take Steve R. for example, and the unsightly episode of Tim's party. He can only have experienced blind panic, if one judges by his actions. He is a very likeable sort, and in an all male environment, he learns to conquer most of his inhibitions.
These inhibitions are sparked off when females arrive on the scene. If he only knew that he wasn't so unique. I have acted very similar to him- the last Bempton disco- but I had the social intelligence, right circumstances, and sheer luck, to avoid incuming any resultant embarassment.
I shall not say that I feel sorry for Steve, the last (and most disastrous) thing to give him would be the old, patronising"Let's talk man to man..." routine. NO! The cure lies in his own hands, or rather mind. He has no physical "disability", in the sense that he is not ugly. Certainly no Paul Newman, but who of us are? If I can only make him see and use his potential, 1976 will be a renaissance for Steve R.