John MacDonald: Is forcing kids to stay at school longer the answer?

If a 16-year-old doesn’t want to be at school anymore, is it worth forcing them to stay until they’ve completed Year 11?

At the moment, they can leave as soon as they turn 16.

But National says, if it’s re-elected, it will make it compulsory for students to stay until the end of Year 11. Irrespective of when they turn 16.

Education spokesperson Erica Stanford says 16-year-olds shouldn’t be quitting school with “nothing to do but sit on the couch”.

The thing is, though, if a 16-year-old just isn’t interested in school, should they be forced to stay? No, they shouldn’t.

Which I’m basing on my own personal experience. When I was in Year 11. Or 5th Form as it was then. Which I will get to.

But I can see what National is trying to do with this policy. And I like the objective. Because if someone has to stay until the end of Year 11, they’ll hopefully walk out the door with some qualification. Which, at the moment, is NCEA Level 1.

That’s what Brendon Crompton from Blue Light Ventures, which runs mentoring programmes for young people, thinks. He likes National’s idea and describes NCEA Level 1 as something everyone needs to be an adult.

But you don’t get it just for turning up. You have to put the work in. And chances are, if someone has pretty much given up on school, they’re not going to put the work in, are they?

And I’m not just saying that. Because I know what it’s like being someone who has given up on school.

When I was in my School Certificate year, the 5th Form or Year 11 as it is now, I couldn’t wait to get out of there.

I scraped through. Passing three subjects and failing two. My parents could see what was going on and they let me leave school and work for them in their shop.

A year down the track, they had an offer for the shop that they couldn’t refuse. So I was out of a job.

They suggested that I go back to school. To a different school. Which I did. And it turned my life around.

But I know that, if I’d been forced to stay at the old school when I didn’t want to be there, things would have really gone pear-shaped for me.

The other thing is that, for as long as we have NCEA, not every school is going to offer the Level 1 qualification. That’s because it’s not compulsory. So some schools don’t bother with it.

So if someone turns 16 in May, for example, what’s the use of forcing them to stay at school until the end of the year if they’re somewhere that doesn’t even offer Level 1?

And what’s the use of forcing them to stay if school is the last place they want to be?

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