25 JANUARY 1946, Page 2

Making Citizens

Public attention is more often concentrate ,-1 the failures than the successes of our system of government, and perhaps this is ell to the good, for as Stendhal emphasised many years ago, smugness and hypocrisy tend to become the prevailing vices of democracy. Increases in juvenile delinquency, allegations of unsatisfactory con- ditions in remand homes, flaws in the probation system, the general deterioration of youth (from the point of view of their elders) frequently provide sensational items in the daily press ; less is said of the genuine and steady improvement which has been achieved in the handling of the delinquent child. For this reason the Home Office's pamphlet on "Making Citizens," the work of the approved schools, is very welcome. It traces the history of these schools, from the " reformatory " or " industrial " schools founded by private philanthropic efforts in the middle of the last century, to the " approved " schools of today, which received their new name under the Children and Young Persons Act of 1933. The difference in name alone indicates the change which has taken place in public attitudes to the problem of the neglected or delinquent child ; and the pamphlet emphasises that the task of the approved schools is an educational and not a penal one. There are now 145 such schools in England and Wales, all under the Home Office, some run by local authorities but the great majority under voluntary manage- ment. One advantage of the system is the diversity it allows in the character of individual schools, and it is now intended to classify them scientifically so that it will be possible to send children to those which suit them best. It is less satisfactory that the number of schools is still inadequate, so that many children must wait, pre- sumably under conditions which aggravate the harm already done, before they find a place.