[Nea Wood]

I don’t know if this is still the case, but it used to be, in England you could legally leave school at age 14-1/2 if you had an apprenticeship. That has always made sense to me. Seems to me a law like that would help the young lady in the story. People can always go to adult school and get more education later if they change their minds about what they want to do with their lives.

[wintertime]

I don’t know if this is still the case, but it used to be, in England you could legally leave school at age 14-1/2 if you had an apprenticeship. That has always made sense to me.

It makes plenty of sense to me.

Seems to me a law like that would help the young lady in the story. People can always go to adult school and get more education later if they change their minds about what they want to do with their lives.

Exactly! There is always the community college route if they wish to further their education as an adult.

I have an idea!

If they leave school after 8th grade, they will not have used 4 years of their government K-12 education. If they decide to return to school at age 30 how about giving those 4 years of unused K-12 money in the form of community or regular college scholarships?

[Tired of Taxes]

I don’t know if this is still the case, but it used to be, in England you could legally leave school at age 14-1/2 if you had an apprenticeship. That has always made sense to me.

I was there as an exchange student in the early eighties. You're right: At the time, students finished secondary school by age 14-15. By age 16, they started trade school or university. The problem was, they weren't given a second chance if they didn't do well enough in secondary school. That was the impression I was given, anyway. Whether they went to trade school or university depended upon their performance in secondary school, whereas we Americans could opt for the community college route and transfer to a four-year afterward.

That old English school system may have changed now; I don't know. Today's English schools are having the same problems we're having, if not more so.

[PapaBear3625]

I don’t know if this is still the case, but it used to be, in England you could legally leave school at age 14-1/2 if you had an apprenticeship. That has always made sense to me. Seems to me a law like that would help the young lady in the story. People can always go to adult school and get more education later if they change their minds about what they want to do with their lives.

When I was in NYC decades ago, when you graduated 8th grade, you had a choice between going to an academic high school which would prepare you for college, or a technical high school which would prepare you for a trade.

One that is still around is Automotive High School. When you graduate Automotive, you get a HS diploma plus your mechanic's certification