School isn’t for everyone

The GCSE results debate today will be full of the usual accusations of grade inflation from critics and celebration of better teaching by the Government. However in the Times Lord Adonis has tried to open a wider debate on education. His most eye-catching point is that pupils leaving school at 16 is unacceptable and that we need to “eliminate dropping out”. The need to encourage pupils to stay in education for as long as possible is one of Labour’s main crusades.

But why is this so important? Adonis says that criticism of new vocational subjects is “class-based elitism that instinctively wants to ration success and cap the aspirations of the less advantaged”. Not true.It is Adonis’ who is being the educational snob by arguing that those who leave school at 16 are going to be failures.

Kids that aren’t academically talented should leave school and enter apprenticeships and the like. Fooling them into thinking further education is beneficial only wastes their time when they could be working their way up the career ladder and learning other skills and plunges them into debt if they choose to prolong the academic charade into university.