In the first few years at school, all appears to (46) be very well. There is much concern, (47) on the part of the teachers, with high educational standards, and the children, even those who are (48) far from being socially privileged in other ways, seem eager and happy. However, by the time the children reach adolescence, the promise of the early years frequently remains unfulfilled. Many leave school (49) without having mastered those basic skills which society demands, let (50) alone having developed the ability to exercise any sort of creative intelligence. There is no denying that, in spite of the enlightened concern of our primary schools with happiness, schooling (51) sooner or other turns into a distinctly unhappy experience for many of our children. Large (52) numbers of them emerge from it well aware that they are ill-equipped for life in our society. So then they either regard (53) themselves as stupid for failing or else, quite understandably, they regard the activities at (54) which they have failed as stupid. In any event they want no (55) part of them. How can we justify a long period of compulsory education which ends like that?