We all need education and a well-educated population is essential to a developed economy. But not all of us know what we want to do and learn when we are young. Many of us were itching to get into the world of work and misbehaved at school because we weren’t interested, only to wish a few years later that we had time to study something we had found that interested us in more depth.

Let’s say the state was prepared to fund each person for 17 years of education throughout their lifetime.

School was compulsory from 5 to 13 years old. If a child left school at 13 and entered the world of work the state would be prepared to pay for another 9 years of education at any time in their subsequent life.[spacer height=”20px”]

This does not prevent a child from going all the way through school doing ‘A’ Levels and still being funded through a 4 year degree course all free, leaving university at 22.

Just think of how much more productive the education system would be if everyone over the age of 13 was there because they wanted to be there.

13 too young to start work? In Nelsons Navy, mid – shipman of this age were leading men into battle and that was 200 years ago.