As the title of the chapter suggests, the structure of the educational
system and the biological development of the child correspond to a con-
siderable extent. The onset of sexual maturity tends to occur about the
time the child moves from elementary to secondary school, but variations
are found both in the school system and in the rate of development of
children. Some school systems involve only one point of transition, at the
beginning of either the seventh or the ninth grade, the youngster then
spending either four or six years in a single secondary school. Others
involve two changes, first to junior high school, then to senior high school,
three years being spent in each. Almost all children, however, experience
a change of school at the end of the sixth or eighth grade. Somewhere
during those years too, most children become sexually mature. At the same
time, the biological maturation of children is quite varied. Some children,
especially girls, may be sexually mature even before leaving elementary
school, and other children, especially boys, may not reach sexual maturity
until they are well into high school.

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