Britain has one of the highest dropout rates for a developing nation and is proposing to make it the law to keep British kids in school longer.
Britain wants to see its youth stay in school longer and is willing to play hardball to make it happen. British Education Secretary Alan Johnson has just proposed raising the age for mandatory schooling or training to 18 by the year 2015. On Thursday he released a Green Paper outlining his plan, which includes charging dropouts with criminal records, fines and community service. Work-related diplomas as well as more apprenticeships would be created to ensure a place for teens who prefer vocational training.
Johnson finds it unacceptable to see a 16-year-old in a dead-end job, not learning anything, and thinks his plan can change that. Currently about twenty-five percent of British sixteen year olds leave school at this age. The plan is specifically targeted at “Neets” a term used for youth “not in education employment or training” used to describe the 220 000 sixteen to eighteen-year-olds in England who are dropping out and living on benefits.
Critics of Johnson’s plan think that forcing unwilling teenagers to stay in school won’t benefit anyone and will only make things worse for those students in the class who actually want to be there. There is also suspicion that the Education Secretary’s motives are more economic than truly based on a concern for the well-being and quality education of youth.
Last year the government calculated that each “Neet” costs taxpayers an average of £97,000 during their lifetime. This figure includes benefit payments, crime or the simple failure to contribute anything in taxes. If 11 percent of 16 to 18-year-olds are “Neets” this year, the country will face a future bill of £21 billion. The Government has already started Education Maintenance Allowances, which are payments made to students’ bank accounts if they agree to stay on at school. This project is estimated to cost £500 million a year, but some wonder if the money isn’t being collected only by those who would attend school anyway.
While the government makes plans to improve its numbers game, the question remains whether the kids staying in school — and accumulating debt by continuing onto university — are learning anything worthwhile. Aside from playing the stick and carrots game, is anyone asking why so many want to leave school?
This article was published Monday, April 2, 2007.
