FileFront Forums - High School Drop Out Kids

I see at least three reasons why kids shouldn't be allowed to make such a dramatic decision by themselves. Man, I hate the term 'kids'. Makes me sound old and patronising, which really isn't what I intend to come off as. But children sounds even more so, and calling them 'My Precious Ones' just sounds bloody creepy.

Anyway. First off, ignorance. Kids are, I'm afraid to say, largely in the dark when it comes to the 'outside world'. Take it from someone who only left full-time education a couple of years ago; when they kick you out the doors and tell you where to shove the certificates you just spent more than a decade earning, you learn a few things. Firstly, obviously, you learn how to remove rolled-up certificates from where the sun rarely shines. Secondly you learn how to clean those certificates so that you can still use them. And thirdly, you learn about employment, taxation, various laws and customs you were never aware of but are now completely exposed to, a sense of responsibility more powerful than you ever experienced while in school, and, most importantly of all, what employers want. I'm sorry to say that if you want a job in a better place than McDonalds, you need a wad of certificates glowing with institutionalised qualifications. That's not to say that McDonalds isn't a decent place to work -- it's better than claiming benefits, and I bet it's a lot of fun to spit in the burgers and watch all those fools mistake it for mayonnaise. But if you have any sort of ambition, or self-respect, you don't want to spend your life working in a fast-food restaurant.
School's dull; everyone knows it. Anyone interested in learning hates that it's institutionalised. Anyone interested in socialising hates that you get homework, and aren't really allowed to do much talking while you're in there. Anyone interested in gaming just hates the fact that you have to do anything other than gaming, or even waking up in the morning. Anyone interested in frogs hates that the government doesn't let you kill them anymore. But it's important, and leaving on a whim isn't the smart thing to do.
If you have a plan, great. If you're that smart and that organised, you would probably save that plan until school's over anyway. You might need those certificates if your plan falls on its face and gets run over by a juggernought. Regardless of your plans, you need to have school qualifications as a back-up plan if nothing else. They're very important to your future. And I don't think many kids understand just how important they are. It's only after a few years of experience and industrial qualifications that you're likely to get away with not having any school qualifications, but of course, you won't likely get any of this without having those school qualifications to start with.

Secondly, tax burden. People pay a lot of money to keep schools up and running, in the UK and Europe at least. I personally think of it as repaying the education system for all the time I spent there, rather than paying to educate other people's kids, though whatever. For kids to leave school, claim unemployment benefits, claim the time of social workers and possibly the attentions of the police just doesn't seem fair on the tax payer, in my opinion. My status as an actual tax payer might make me slightly biased on that front, but, meh. The last thing society needs is irresponsible, short-sighted and ignorant kids leaving school early because it's boring and taking up the profession of professional bum instead.
That's not to say that all kids would end up being criminals on benefits. I'm sure a handful of them may have legitimate, honest reasons to quit. But if they had legitimate, honest reasons to quit -- they could make their case with the support of their parents! The majority of people won't likely have a very good reason.

Finally, it's more than likely that a kid leaving school is going to be doing so on a whim, or because of something specific which only has short-term effects. One day, something might happen which makes them stand up and say "To hell with this place and its affiliation with penguins, I'm out!". Well, the last thing you want to give impulsive kids is the right to completely mess up their lives over some social disagreement they may have had, or just finding school 'boring'. I felt like walking out of school many times for various petty things, and I'm glad that doing so would have been illegal. Frankly speaking, I don't think the majority of kids are responsible enough to handle that sort of power. It's the same reason why I disagree with the idea of lowering the voting age. There may be a handful of kids who are responsible enough, likely a few people from this very forum, but even so they would probably still fall under the first point I made -- a lack of worldly experience.

In Britain, you are legally required to attend full time education until the age of 16. College and university is entirely optional. I used to be in favour of the idea of making college (thus, up to the age of 18 or so) mandatory too. However, I had a quick realisation not too long ago -- the economy would completely collapse if there weren't people filling unskilled jobs and the like. So that idea isn't too hot. But you won't even get one of those jobs if you don't have the two most basic qualifications -- English and Maths. And so high school qualifications at least should be mandatory -- and they already are, so I'm not really sure what I'm getting so worked up about.
If anything, I think that compulsory education should be enforced even more strictly. At the moment, kids who skip school get to witness their parents being punished. I think they should receive a little punishment of their own. Slap an ASBO on their ass or something to start with, at least.

I'm usually the sort of person who waves his hand in dismissal and says 'do what you want, just don't expect us to pick up the pieces'. But this is something completely different IMO -- it's certainly not something which can be easily corrected. This is your entire future.