Pros and Cons of Compulsory Schooling
This is from the Society supplement in today's Guardian, in which a former headteacher discusses the case of "Charlie", "a determined 15-year-old truant" who has been working, illegally but successfully, for a landscape gardening company. This raises the important issue of whether it is worthwhile keeping teenagers in "education" longer and longer when many of them resent being there and see no benefit in it. Believe it or not, the government is said to be planning to raise the leaving age to 18 and this stupid idea is said to be in today's Queen's speech. (Also see this letter from a teacher who started his career in 1972, the year the leaving age was raised from 15 to 16.)
Intersting.. I was speaking to an alima and she was saying how frustrated she is with Western schooling. You do often learn stuff that you'll never use. I mean, when are you going to use calculus? On the other hand, schooling doesn't want to focus on more practical things like sewing, cooking, and how to fix things around the house, etc (and this is beneficial for both men and women)
Most of the stuff that schools teach after the age of 11 is abstract theoretical rubbish with little relevance to the real world or the job market. The only thing that really matters is if you can read to a reasonably high standard. GCSEs are nothing more than a scam. Most employers do not want paper qualifications; they want work experience.
Danya & M Risbrook:
YES! Exactly what I've been telling my parents! School is ridiculious, for the most part - they're not teaching us stuff that we need to know for real life at all!
It's madness!