Reduce school leaving age. Is School a waste of time ???

[chameleon54]

Now that I,ve got your attention. Is School a waste of time for SOME KIDS  ??? Should they be encouraged to leave at an earlier age ??

As I have mentioned previously on the forums, our 15 year old son has mental health problems. He hangs around with a group of other kids, all dysfunctional for one reason or other. Some have diagnosed mental health problems, some come from broken families or have parents who dont give a rats ....ss about them. The group has started to wag school in a serious way spending more time smoking dope under a nearby bridge than spending time in class. They are leading other kids to truancy and when in class are disassociated from learning and disruptive to those trying to study. The Government says these kids must stay at school for at least another two years. WHAT IS THE POINT ???

We are currently going through the process of removing our son from schooling at age 15 to work and undertake vocational training. . This was initially treated with skepticism by the school community to the extent that a couple of teachers where extremely rude to us when collecting personal items from the classroom. ( never stepping over the line, but going very close to it )

From our sons perspective this process has been a huge success. He had an after school job at the local KFC. They have offered him permanent employment of 25 hours a week and training to recieve a certificate in retail, stage three. He has signed up at TAFE to study bartendering and coffee barristering courses to provide further opportunities when he is too old to work the fast food joints. We live in a seaside holiday town with huge opportunities for this type of work.

We are also employing him in our grazing business. He has purchased his own sheep and we have signed a lease on a grazing property for him. He therefore has two separate career paths in place and all in around eight weeks of leaving school. He is working 40-45 hours per week, saving money, paying tax and not on any benefit's.  His attitude has changed from frustration and hopelessness to positive and enthusiastic.

I know that many kids have a bright future of education, university and professional careers and schooling forms a vital stepping stone in this process, but what about all of the other kids ???

Why isnt the school leaving pathway being promoted to kids who are dissengaged with schooling and society in general ? It seems to be a big secret that it is even possible to leave school at 15 and is actively discouraged by the educational community. It just seems like another example of the out of touch, PC brigade dictating to the rest of the community what is right and whats wrong for our kids.

[onlinehokum]

Some kids, yes, which your boy seems to have proved Chameleon. However on the other hand, it would depend on each individual child's situation.

I work with intellectually & physically disabled adults, some of which would be a hazard in a school environment. As limited as their learning abilities are, or their desire to learn for some is, some of 'my clients' are keeping those who don't understanding their disability safe not going to school, but fundamentally, my clients are far more fulfilled at my work.

[lyndal1838]

School is certainly not for all children.

My eldest went all the way in a Selective High school and has been doing some sort of study ever since...either work related or for pleasure.  She is 46 now.

The youngest was not interested in school....it was a struggle (and plenty of bribery) from the minute she turned 15 to keep her at school till the end of the year to get her School Certificate.   Once she left school her only interest was in horses...she worked her fingers to the bone cleaning stables, showing her horses and othe peoples horses, eventually did Vet Nursing and has generally done well for herself.

Another example of someone leaving school early but doing very well...Little Patty was at a selective high school at the same time as I was.  There was an absolute scandal when she wanted to leave early to pursue her music career.   She was in Vietnam at the time we were all slaving over exams.

[chameleon54]

LITTLE PATTY ???   Gosh Lyndal, you look much younger than that to me. I always thought you where probably in your 50,s, ( not born in the 50,s ) . you must be young at heart....:

[punch*drunk]

I completely agree school is not for everyone. I have a niece who, due to family circumstances, did very poorly in years 11 & 12 which meant when she left school at 18 she had no schooling worth putting on a resume and also no work experience. On paper it looks like she just wasted a few years of her life. If she'd left school at 15/16 and got a job, even part time at a supermarket, that would have put her in better stead for finding employment when school finished. Who wants to pay adult wages to someone with no experience at anything?

It took her more than a year after leaving school before she could even pick up a part time job and now she is doing a tafe course so hopefully she'll land on her feet.

I think if kids arent capable of doing well at school for whatever reason they are better off to join the workforce while they are young enough to get a junior wage because if you get to adulthood without good school reports or work experience you are really behind the 8 ball.

[lyndal1838]

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@chameleon54 wrote:

LITTLE PATTY ???   Gosh Lyndal, you look much younger than that to me. I always thought you where probably in your 50,s, ( not born in the 50,s ) . you must be young at heart....:

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You are kind.  I am older than Little Patty by a few years.....I was born in the 40s, 1945 to be exact.  I wish I looked half as good as Patty does...she has aged very well.

[wilk1149]

The only thing school taught me was that the world is a horrible place where people will try and break your spirit whenever they can and that society only values the sheep like individuals those that will follow the rules with blind faith

[ecar3483]

It would be terribly easy to criticise the education system by saying that it's a monolithic structure, blinded by own narrow sighted thinking and that it's rationale is results/goals oriented, rather than being an institution of a pedagogical nature.

You could be mistaken for thinking  that students are treated more like commodities with a "value" than valued as people.

Of course I know that only a cynical person, whose attitude towards the education system had been hardened by unfortunate or unpleasant experiences would say such a thing.

School was like standing next to an olympic size swimming pool.

The workplace was like swimming in that pool.

I spent 12 years not being prepared at all, for what was to come.

Was school a waste of time...?