This document is a collection of three papers originally prepared as part of a series of public lectures presented by the Faculty of Education at the University of Rhodesia. Each paper stresses the vital need to examine assumptions made about the pupil in school to see whether provisions made for him are really in accordance with his present and future needs. Titles of the three papers are: "The Early Years: The Vital Years of Childhood,""Sex Bias as a Variable in Primary Education," and "Sex Differences in Scientific and Mathematical Competence at Adolescence." (Author/JMB)