ABSTRACT
This chapter presents three case studies from the perspective of other more traditional, and usually quantitative, studies of school, alienation and transition. The three studies provide abundant case material on the student-teacher relationship which is one of dominance and submission, even in instances where teachers are predisposed to treat students as responsible individual young adults. The case studies demonstrate more than any quantitative study could do, the magnitude of the problems which face educational planners as they attempt to design secondary schools for majority participation to age sixteen, seventeen or eighteen. Schools could have a central role should Australia ever adopt a youth policy which had as its main objective a guarantee to all young people of opportunities in work/educational training or combination of these. Schools are the only institutions which know the entire cohort of leavers and as such they are well placed to monitor the progress of each individual and collaborate with other agencies when assistance is needed.
