Everyone should stay at school until 18. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Answer
Some people argue that students should stay in compulsory education until the age of 18. While I agree that youngsters can reap many benefits from continuing studying at high schools, I believe that this should not apply to all young people.
There are many reasons why it can be argued that students should not leave schools early. Firstly, by studying at high schools, students could gain a wealth of knowledge and skills that help meet higher-level qualifications in the future. Due to the highly competitive job market, it is impossible for students with no degree to compete with well-educated students in terms of skilled works. Those who graduate from high school obviously have better chances of having decent jobs with high salary and particularly accessing to tertiary education. Secondly, schools also provide social and moral education, which is of paramount importance to teenagers. Because people under 18 do not have sufficient intellectual capacity to distinguish between right behavior and wrong ones, they could easily commit crimes if they were not educated well enough.
However, I am of the opinion that it is unreasonable to make school compulsory until 18. Perhaps the principal reason is that not everyone is academic and not all skills are best learned in schools. For example, a student who wants to become a chief may find better training and more satisfaction from a cooking class or an apprentice scheme. Another major reason is that if students were forced to stay at schools until 18, this would put a huge strain on family’s budget, especially underprivileged families. They need their children to enter the workforce early so that these children can make an economic contribution to family’s income, helping them to meet their ends and survive.
In conclusion, although I acknowledge that lengthening compulsory schooling to 18 could be beneficial, I would contend that this would adversely affect non-academic students and those from poor backgrounds.
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