A Continuation of the Thought.

After the war, the U.K. government raised the school leaving age to 15.

The significant aspect of leaving school was not the end of learning.

It was the clear cut-off point for childhood. Everything changed then. Young people got jobs. They didn't earn enough to set up on their own households but they were contributing to the household.They had new respect.

I was probably ten when Anna Murphy, who lived on my street turned fourteen and left school. Anna and her older brother Peter were the only children in her family.

The first Sunday after, Anna set out for church. Her new shoes had a small heel. She was wearing stockings. The hem of her coat was woman's length. She wore a stylish hat and carried a handbag.

The week before she was wearing flat shoes, socks , knee length skirt and a beret.

Anna had a new adult wardrobe. Childhood was over.

A few years ago, Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyer had a series of conversations on PBS Mr. Campbell was a Professor of World Religions.It was a life-time study. He was eight-four when he died. Which he did not do until he had completed his book on the subject.

In one program, he tallked about how young men in primitive cultures had to complete certain severe and dangerous trials before being deemed to have become adult.

It wasn't necessary for girls because physical changes were evident in females.

Moyer asked if Campbell thought the trials were necessary. Campbell said;

"Well look around you.( in New York) Look at the subways, the vandalism, the graffitti, the senseless crime . What is the average age and sex of the people in jails?"

His point was, such behaviour is unknown in cultures where a line is established when a boy to is recognised as a man.

It made a lot of sense to me.

I don't think my children or my grandchildren benefitted from childhood unnaturally extended by dependence due to prolonged education.

I don't believe they were as well educated .

My grandchildren don't even know how to hold a pencil properly. How can a person write properly, if they don't know how to hold the instrument. Does the keyboard make writing irrelevant? I don't think so.

Skills are acquired with discipline. The same goes for teaching skills. Discipline is a subject in itself.

I think the artifical extension of childhood and the unnatural burden on parents, creates underlying resentment . It 's the real reason, we have aberrant behaviour in youth.

I've had that thought for a long time.

It feels good to say it.

I doubt anything useful will come of it. Entrenched attitudes serving a powerful sector in society are hard to budge.

Still... one never knows where a seed might take hold.