School Age !

The New South Wales government proposes to change the school leaving age to seventeen. The intention is to increase the qualification level of students leaving school to enable them to better fit into the workforce and to therefore achieve a better pay grade and work opportunities.

Few would argue with that intention, but it seems to be a " one size fits all " measure.

Not all kid's are academically minded and forcing those that fit badly into the school community to conform will only be disruptive to classes.

The option seems to be to achieve a higher academic grade, or seek special permission to leave to take up an apprenticeship or start a paying job.

The problem with that is we are entering at least a severe recession - and possibly a mind numbing depression - and as a consequence apprenticeships and any form of paid work is going to be hard to find.

Consequently a lot of kid's who hate school and have no interest in learning are going to be stuck in the system until they are seventeen, and in today's culture they are young adults on the cusp of parental freedom.

This idea will only work if TAFE is expanded to teach functional skills that the non academic can use when they do eventually leave school. There is no point in herding people into class rooms if they are better served learning something practical that they can put to use in earning a living.

The danger is that this plan will not be supported by the funding needed to provide an alternative for the non academics.

If that happens, the plan will be counter productive. Not only will the bright ones have their chance of higher learning wrecked by the disaffected forced into classrooms, but we will lose the skills of those who normally augment the trades that are so dismally lacking in numbers at present.

The idea is good. The implementation needs work !