[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?

[trussell]

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?

People going into a college atmosphere are usually required to have already received a high school diploma. If she chooses to not get the diploma, it should effectively forfeit her ability to attend a college or community education classes.