Both cross sectional and longitudinal studies of change with age in mental ability and cross sectional studies of change with age in cognitive performance indicate that the ability to learn generally does not decline in adulthood but continues at a stable and responsive level well into the later years. This conclusion is not only supported by psychological research but also confirmed by the rapidly growing numbers of older persons who are returning to and succeeding in the pursuit of educational activities. If and when decline does occur, it is usually modest, often reversible, rarely extreme, and rarely if ever great enough to preclude the possibility of learning that may be highly meaningful to the older learner.

are: 1. to reduce the briefing preparation time, 2. to reduce the presentation time, 3. to reduce the number and complexity of charts, 4. to increase the confidence of the briefer, 5. to improve the reception by the audience, and 6. to evaluate results. After defining a briefing, Morrisey presents the six steps necessary to the preparation of a briefing, i.e., establish objectives, analyze the audience, prepare preliminary plan, select resource material, organize material, and practice the presentation in advance. The selection and use of visual aids and tips on making the presentation are discussed. A practical appendix covers the important subjects of audience analysis and evaluation techniques. The content of Effective Business and Technical Presentation, while

THE PSYCHOLOGY of adults has had increasing attention. Studies of maturity not only illuminate later life but also often involve findings from earlier years as a base of comparison. A substantial body of data is being produced as can be observed from the items appearing under the rubric Maturity and Old Age since it was first used in the September 1947 Psychological Abstracts. There are also the 15,983 entries of Shock's encyclopedic bibliography (52), Volumes 2 and 7 of the Annual Review of Psychology (41, 53), the (December) 1952, 1955, and 1958 issues of the REVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH, and the monumental volumes edited by Birren (8) and Tibbitts (55). To these may be added the symposium entitled Psychological Aspects of Aging (2), and the works of Pressey and Kuhlen (48) and Zubek and Solberg (63).

THE education of adults about education is in some respects the central problem of education. At least it is in a nation like the United States. If the education of children and youth and adults is important in a democratic society such as ours, the instruction of adults about this education is even more important, since adults provide the financial support and create the cultural climate which make any kind of education possible. This point is so elementary that it seems fantastic that it should have escaped the attention of such large sections of the pedagogical fraternity. But recent attacks on current pedagogy and the growing necessity for increasing financial assistance compel the educator to encourage public enlightenment about the facts of education. Already this movement is sufficiently visible to justify the review of the emerging data in this field. Bolmeier (5) and McClusky (22) made a strong case for the fact that a fundamental barrier to the development of good schools is the misinformation possessed by adults concerning the scope, practice, and potentialities of education. School Executive devoted a section to developing public understanding of the functions of schools (41) and one to methods of reporting information about schools to the public (40). Morphet (28) presented the facts which every informed citizen should know about financing schools, while Shannon (44) summarized 1000 problems which 75 school superintendents would like the public to understand.

THE DOMINANT feature of adult education in this country for purposes of this discussion is the multiple character of its manifestations. This multidimensionality stems from two conditions: (a) the fact that adult education is the task of many agencies, and (b) the fact that it is only one of several tasks in which the agencies are engaged. Adult education, then, is not an institutional exclusive. It is not the function of one organization exclusively, nor is it usually the exclusive job of the organization to which it belongs. Adult education takes place in a shared program of part-time activities operating in a variety of forms. This fact places its stamp on every proposal for the organization and administration of adult education that this reviewer has been able to examine.

THE LITERATURE covered by this report revealed the same trends which have previously been reported in the corresponding numbers of the REVIEW for 1940, 1943, and 1946. In addition to these established trends, however, new emphases have emerged to enrich the interaction of mental hygiene and education. These emphases support the postulate that the central instruments of the educational process, namely, the curriculum, method, administration, and the teacher, should supply the major contribution of education to mental health. Clinical services to children and youth in schools and colleges will always be important, but in a sense they will always be peripheral because by definition the basic concern of mental hygiene is not remediation but prevention and facilitation.

Happy, healthy, and secure children are rarely recruits for delinquency. If homes, schools, churches, and youth-serving agencies were doing an effective job, juvenile courts and reformatories would close for lack of customers. If we really want to keep delinquency from even starting--if we are eager to do more than lock the gate after the horse has run away --we must go "all out" for a positive program for the well-being of all children and youth. A fundamental attack on the prevention of delinquency involves more than the establishment of child-guidance clinics and more than the inservice training of juvenile court officials, important as these are. It requires the creation of a favorable climate for the development of young life so that children may become well-adjusted youth and youth may mature into emotionally stable adults. Nothing less is worthy of respect as a basic and sincere approach to the problem. The sense of this point is confirmed by the hard facts of practical operation. By definition, the agencies in a community with resources for the prevention of delinquency have other things to do besides preventing delinquency. Furthermore, the groups they serve have few members who are likely to become delinquent. For example, some churches are often helpful in blocking the path to disaster, but most of their youth are immune to serious trouble. A Scout troop may increase the resistance of a vulnerable boy, but few of his fellow Scouts are in danger of the law. Scouts, church, Y.M.C.A., Y.W.C.A., Camp Fire Girls, 4-H clubs, C.Y.0., and other youth-serving organizations must serve delinquencyprone youth and normal youth in the same program without stigmatizing the former or whitewashing the latter. To do otherwise--to separate the normal sheep from the near-delinquent goats--would be preposterous.

In order to attack my assignment promptly, I am accepting the three assumptions on which this conference quite obviously is based: first, there is a significant body of research about child and human development worth dissemination; second, there is a serious gap between the production and consumption of research which present measures, good as they are, fail to overcome; and third, it is both important and possible to disseminate among the rank and file of the adult population the best that is known about human development. Having accepted these assumptions, I interpret my assignment to be that of implementation, i.e., of indicating how the production-consumption gap can be closed by means of adult education and community action in this field.