The School Age—the Business Man's Argument The Employment Planning Committee
of the League of Industry explain quite frankly that they are " not social reformers." It is their function to investigate in a purely business-like spirit " all schemes for the encouragement of employment and a better distribution of employment." When such a body as this recommends the raising of the school-leaving age to 15 the Government might indeed feel uneasy in their neglect of this question. Without attaching any weight to the strong argument of the edu- cationists, this hard-headed committee, from the point of view of employment in industry alone, consider that the Government ought to accept its responsibility. Indeed, they go further and recommend that an allowance should be paid to parents where hardship would otherwise be caused. It is true they qualify the recommendations with conditions ; but educationists would not quarrel with the proviso that the raising of the age should be accompanied by educational changes which would increase the industrial employability of children.
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