That suits the banks who will effectively have the next generation loaded up with debt before they have left university, and debt slavery is just as effective in population control especially since not all of them will get on the property ladder. I have no problem with apprenticeships but they should start earlier than 18. Some kids are simply not academic and trapping them in schools till they are 18 and ingraining in them that they are failures because they have no qualifications creates an underclass. In the US the trend is starting to turn against degrees from big universities, especially if you do a cost benefit analysis of a degree.

Despite being highly academic and getting into a good university, I started my working life as an apprentice. Nothing I'd learned in educational establishments past the age of about 12 has been of any real value to me. The stuff they teach at uni is more than 5 years out of date before you even start. Fossils move faster.

I did have a really good time at uni though. I think. I can't remember a lot of it.

The academy model is pushing the less academic kids towards apprenticeships already. My nephew is an apprentice, after his school switched to academy a few years ago - it was clear he wanted a practical "hands on" career, and that's the direction they helped to point him - I have no problem with the idea of preparing them prior to apprenticeship, if that is their choice. Targeted learning is fine, provided they aren't being categorised and rail-roaded.

Apprenticeships have always been big over here. Eldest daughter is in her final year, the youngest is in her first year. The eldest wants to go on and study now. They earn enough, with the maintenance from their father to rent a flat and still save some money each month.

The problem is the lack of apprenticeships out there. They are hard fought over. My wife got her certificate to be a trainer for apprentices last year, part of her Meister studies.

I think that for kids that are not academic they should be allowed to start apprenticeships from around 14. Though unless they are sure what they want to do then maybe a more generalist study regime but with an apprenticeship to follow. The government are too fixated on university, and without decent levels of skilled work we will either as a nation have to import polish plumbers or die from the lack of telephone sanitisers.


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