Speaking at the annual speech day of Den-high County School recently Sir Wynn Wheldon, Permanent Secretary to the Welsh Department of the Board of Education, said:
The propensity to leave the secondary school too soon is still found in most, if not all, of our secondary schools and does mean wasteful and extravagant use of a somewhat expensive education system. A pupil who only stays at this kind of school for two years would probably get a good deal more out of a well-considered three or four year course in a senior School than he is likely to get in the few years he remains at the secondary school Parents Should remember that the whole basis of a secondary education involves a four or five Year course, preferably five, and today it includes not only subjects which are dubbed "aca-domic" but a great deal of practical work which is of first-rate importance. Moreover, the pupil in the longer period has a chance of getting well into the corporate life of the school and in this way acquires confidence and judgment which enable him to face the future with better assurance.
It is not irrelevant even on this occasion to mention what is now known as the Youth Movement, which is not a new thing in itself, but the name marks a special effort in these war years to deal as effectively as we can with the very large group of boys and girls between fourteen and eighteen who do not have the advantage of a secondary or other form of education. Indeed, leaving school as they do normally at four-"een, the majority still lack any decent opportunity not only for further education but for any kind of corporate life and activity, though tuis is just as important and valuable to them as it is for the secondary-school pupil. A Central Youth committee has been set up, and related to that committee there is also a smaller committee operating in Wales, t
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