The problem with forcing students to stay in school until Year 12 is that not all kids are in great schools, live in optimal learning environments and/or have been lucky enough to have been exposed to a stream of talented teachers.

How can you then expect kids from disadvantaged environments and schools to compete in academic competition against those from private schools, and even against those that are coached and/or from a better learning environment/school?

Some kids don’t achieve, not because they don’t have intelligence, but because they were not lucky enough to be born into a life where education is readily available to them at a high enough level for them to compete.

What is the point of making students stay at school when they are not going to be competitive or succeed in that environment? They are far better off getting a trade or getting a job, as experience is worth a lot more in the workforce than a piece of paper that shows that you didn’t do very well

Jolanda, Yes indeed, i do agree that it is futile at times for many kids in many schools. The social capital that advantaged kids are exposed to cannot be replicated in schools in low socio economic areas (especially remote areas).

But at the same time schools should not be relied to fulfill or fix the broader social problems that disadvantage brings.

Rainer I think you are wrong when you say "But at the same time schools should not be relied to fulfill or fix the broader social problems that disadvantage brings".

Unless of course I am not understanding what you mean?

I believe that Education/schooling is the only thing that has any hope of fixing the social problems in the future.

J, in an altruistic sense I too believe education is central to all good social change, but quite often I hear parents and citizens blaming schools for what are essentially social (not educational) responsibilities. Are they wrong? Yes and No.

I can understand parents wanting schools to take up the role modelling they can no longer provide (because they are too busy working to provide) but what I witness is an imbalance between home and school responsibilities. We no longer live in safe moral and ethical close knit communities and schools are increasingly being asked to fulfil this role for our kids (ie,provide a sense of community) which to a certain extent they do. But the world of a 14 year old is very different these days from a 14 year old twenty years ago. ( I mourn the disappearance of childhood for children)

So in my perspective education is itself going through profound change in terms of purposes, content and methods … [education] is both a symptom of and a contributor to the socio-cultural conditions we are witnessing. I believe many other critical choices we should make for all children but these are not addressed - instead we tend to throw all these choices into one basket and call it “education” or ‘schooling’.

Its just not good enough!

I for one believe we have outgrown the model of schooling we depend on but we need to critically understand what is failing before we move to other models of ‘education’.

I see no movement toward this critical exploration at all.

When I was a kid the law was that you had to go to school until you were 14. I think this was to protect kids against being exploited too early in the workforce, though some may say that it was to encourage the development of literacy and numeracy sufficient to provide an adequate workforce. But the compulsory age has been set at different levels from time to time. What we need is a sound educational rationale for whatever minimum age is set. Personally I think we need to do more to encourage the idea of continuing education. Perhaps make elementary education compulsory but then give people an option of 6 more years of publically funded education of whatever type at whatever stage of the life cycle that people chose.

Rainier, I do understand what you mean. I know that my youngest son has had some social problems (bullying) at school and he says that the teachers cannot cope and that it is the fault of the parents.

Whilst the parents have alot to answer for I still think that it shouldn’t matter what a students home life is like school should be an environment that is strict, supportive, encouraging and fair.

I appreciate that teachers have an impossible job with the range of abilities and the range of behavioural problems from children in their care.

Even my eldest daughter did work experience in a primary school and she felt sorry for the teachers and for the kids that went to school to learn. It’s like the whole environment was sabotaged by those that didn’t care.

Personally I think that students who create a negative learning environment for other students should be educated at home by Distance Education by their parents. They brought them up, they can deal with them.

This attitude seldom makes me many friends.