This book gives the views of parents in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland about ways in which elementary schools should use the time they have with students. Although the parents' comments were collected during the course of a 1985 survey on health education in elementary schools, the whole context of the education of 4- through 12-year-olds comes under scrutiny. Thirty sections present parents' attitudes on such topics as approval or disapproval of health education, the importance of the 3 Rs, concern for the manner in which the topic of health education is taught, the need for a shock-horror method (in relation to substance abuse), the possibility of conflict between home and school attitudes, parents' need to be informed of the curriculum, different health priorities in different communities, the lack of responsibility and caring in society, the influence of television, and the Bible and religion. For 43 listed physical and social health topics, parents were asked to checkmark or provide "just a tick" under one of six headings: (1) "should be included"; (2) "useful if time available"; (3) "undecided"; (4) "not important in this age group"; (5) "should be covered outside school"; or (6) "does more harm than good." Two versions of the questionnaire are provided, with space for comments. Questionnaires were returned by 15,770 parents; comments were offered by 3,507 parents; this report presents a representative selection of 481 comments. Appendices provide materials on regional differences, a ranked order of the survey topics, and guidelines on using the book. (RH)