THE  SOCIAL  WORK  OF  LOCAL  AUTHORITIES       287
under the control of the local authority. Plans to increase education
which require fresh schools are always complicated by the requests
of the denominations for financial help, so that parents shall not
have to send their children to schools whose religious instruction
they consider inadequate. Beside the "three RY* elementary
education comprises history, geography, nature study, physical
exercises, handicrafts and domestic subjects; the local authority
decides how much freedom to give to the head teachers, but the
syllabuses are supervised by the local Director of Education,
and by the. Board of Education. Great development has occurred
since the War in a variety of subjects, and the parent who
remembers his own limited education is often surprised at the
number of activities his children now pursue. As a result, school
discipline has been humanised, and the suspicion and hostility
with which parents used to regard the education authority is
fading. There can be no doubt that the great majority of children
enjoy school, though as the age of fourteen approaches there is
a natural tendency, particularly among boys, to look forward to
the time when they will be earning money.
In 1924 a Committee on Education was appointed, under the
Chairmanship of the late Sir Henry Hadow. It dealt, in a series
of reports, with the education of children of various ages: in
accordance with its proposals, schools are now being re-organised,
so that at the age of eleven the children are divided according to
their abilities. Some proceed to secondary schools, others to the
advanced type of elementary education, given in central schools
where foreign languages and commercial subjects are added to
the curriculum. Those for whom examination success does not
open either of these doors, or whose parents cannot afford to pay
for further education,, go on to senior elementary schools. It was
the intention of the Hadow Committee that the school leaving
age should be raised to fifteen, and until this is done the senior
coqrse cannot be fully developed. An Act which is to come into
force in 1939 does raise the age to fifteen, but children who can
find "beneficial employment" will still leave at fourteen, and it