VERSION|0.5.1|NAME|Matt Westwood|DATE|1368177486|CONTENT|16, is it? I think that&#039;s too old to start giving people responsibility. IMO 14 should be the age at which [b]at least some[/b] of the business of looking out for oneself should be started.

I sometimes get concerned over the attitide of the US, where you are still considered a minor till you&#039;re 21, for goodness sake. At the age of 20 I would have feel seriously resentful at being considered (and called) a &quot;child&quot;. The ill-defined years between when you&#039;re 16 and 18 are bad enough.

And as for making full-time education compulsory till you&#039;re 18 - how on earth is that supposed to improve anything? (Except the unemployment figures, of course). Remember how the minimum school leaving age was raised from 14 to 16 sometime after the war, specifically so as to reduce unemployment figures rather than to improve education standards.

Blow it away is what I say! Let kids leave at 14 and get apprenticeship-style jobs as a career option. Better - any young thugs who can&#039;t be bothered to keep it together long enough to stay in school at 16, they can have the option of going into the army. Be damned to them.|EMAIL|prime.mover@proofwiki.org|IP-ADDRESS|5.68.10.235|MODERATIONFLAG|