The Difficult Age
The registration during last year of 1,442,361 boys and girl between the ages of 16 and 18 in England and Wales has enable' the Board of Education to get down to the study of one of its mos baffling problems,—what is to be done for those young people w have left school, have started to earn their living, but have not y the formed minds of adults? The years between 16 and 18 are fruitful period in the development of boys and girls who are stil at school or in training, and they are not less critical for those whi have gone out to fend for themselves. In what way can the lane be directed to a profitable use of their leisure? Registration has enabled the Local Education Authorities to arrange interviews wits the boys and girls who were not at school or already members youth organisations, and /ready three quarters of those interviewe were recommended to undertake what is called in official languag• an " approved activity.' Many readily agreed to go in for som form of pre-Service training, or training for nursing or the Lan Army, and others joined civilian youth organisations. In som• districts where young people were eager to join some kind organisation it turned out that there were no facilities. In so cases their hours of work were too long to allow them to undertake anything more—hence some very important recommendations regar ing hours of work—and in other cases, after a short trial, they gay' up the " approved activity." Drift and aimlessness—those are th dangers. The reports of the authorities clearly point to the net for an extended period of education, and they show also that is urgent.
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