Over the past two months no fewer than five books have been published, relating to the social consequences of education. Of these, one particularly is of lasting importance. Children in distress, by Sir Alec Clegg and Barbara Megson (Penguin Special, 4s), imposes a new dimension on the education service by deliberately throwing it into the arena of social responsibility. Any new Education Act cannot ignore the principles that Sir Alec and his co-author have laid down. For what is true in the West Riding is perhaps even more relevant to the major urban areas.