Re: Should the School Leaving Age be Reduced to 14?

I currently have a son at University who cannot find a placement for his sandwich course. A daughter who doesn't really want to go to university, but all of the internships she can find require either that you be on a degree course or have a degree and a fifteen year old who has to decide whether to stay at sixth form or go to college next year. To sum up I have a 20 year old, 17 year old and 15 year old all of whom have absolutely no idea what is going to happen next year, how on earth can a 14 year old be expected to know what they want to do when they leave school!! It was bad enough choosing options for what to study at GCSE. School, for the majority, is the easiest time why rush our children into being adults?

Re: Should the School Leaving Age be Reduced to 14?

The school leaving age could be reduced to 14 if there were appropriate places for the chi;dren to go to learn vocational skills. Unfortunately we have disbanded the colleges of art & technology and turned many of them into second or third tier universities. Perhaps we could turn them into universities of vocational studies.
The flip side of the coin is should children start school later and all at the same time. There is a big difference between most just-turned-four-yearolds and rising fives. The latest prognostication in the press last weekend, one of many in recent months, says that summer born children do not do as well as their peers. Well! Who would have thought it? Anyone with half a brain and the childrens interests at heart.

Re: Should the School Leaving Age be Reduced to 14?

Yes, I think that students should be able to leave at 14 if they choose. Some people have had enough of school by this age and if they don't want to learn in this way it is no fun for anyone, students or teachers! You then end up with a very disruptive element in the classroom and that benefits nobody.
Some kids are keen to get into the world of work and why shouldn't they!
My grandfather left school at 12 and that served him well enough. If you can read and write you can teach yourself anything you need to know to get you where you need/want to be. We are living in a very different world now with the internet being available to all, you can find out anything you want to very easily so why sit through lessons that are not of your choice and not at your pace....that is enough to turn anyone off education for life!
If you have had enough of school and you are not a willing student then you won't remember any of it anyway.
Education is the lighting of the fire not the filling of the pail!

Re: Should the School Leaving Age be Reduced to 14?

I left school at 18 in 1971 but remember some of my fellow students leaving at age 15, as was still possible then. Prior to leaving, many of these students were very disruptive and when the leaving age was raised I remember having doubts about it as I could imagine such students remaining at school, still disrupting, while the rest of the class tried to study for their exams. On the other side of the coin, I was concerned because friends who left at 15 were giving up the opportunities to get any qualifications at the end of their time in school.
I do feel that many young people will fight against the school system so hard during adolescence that it has a very negative effect on those who are more easily able to engage and want to learn. However, if the leaving age were lowered to 14 there would need to be a minimal amount of well directed "college time" in core subjects so that a few qualifications are gained and, more importantly, easy access to studies later in life when the motivation arises.

Re: Should the School Leaving Age be Reduced to 14?

No certainly not! Where do these children go then? You're slightly out of date on this as children born in 1997 have to stay at school until they are 17.