The Question of Audience

Youth: Transition to Adulthood is a perplexing policy document. There appear to be enough proposals for change to accommodate the interests of any number of policymakers and administrators who are searching for ways to reaffirm society's obligations toward youth. Closer examination, however, suggests that the authors take seriously only one, or possibly two, of these proposals: a major shift in responsibility for socialization of youth, in possible tandem with some form of voucher. We shall address the first point-that of shifting the responsibility of socialization from the schools to the workplaces of society-and discuss some possible reactions by five audiences: parents, students, taxpayers, teachers, and legislators.