What if you couldn't go to Uni till you were 19?

FTBuyerGlasgow

A degree is worth more than no degree.

Some industries rely on experience, that's fine but not everyone can get a job without experience.

Some industries need evidence of good character and intellect, if you've got these then a degree is a skoosh.

No answer to the OP other than let them eat cake if they want to eat cake.

DigForVictory

M'father did his two years national service between school & university - it may have taken the edge off his maths but it meant he arrived knowing how much his liver could handle & the general maturity meant he was able to get the edge back without too much hassle.

My eldest is looking to work in a care-home before heading for a formal nursing qualification - some subjects don't suffer from a year or more making certain this is the right path.

Cakeguts

DigForVictory wrote: »

M'father did his two years national service between school & university - it may have taken the edge off his maths but it meant he arrived knowing how much his liver could handle & the general maturity meant he was able to get the edge back without too much hassle.

My eldest is looking to work in a care-home before heading for a formal nursing qualification - some subjects don't suffer from a year or more making certain this is the right path.

You have to pick your subject. A gap year before a film studies course would probably make you even more unemployable after the degree. A gap year before a film studies course would only work if you didn't go to university and just continued working.

Nebulous2

I went to secondary school shortly after the leaving age had been raised from 15 to 16. One of our teachers used to argue it should have been dropped to 14, with an option to return at 16.

A period of time on a minimum wage job can be a wake-up call for many people. A youngster I know went to University and dropped out at the end of first year mainly because of issues staying away from home. He returned home intending to take a year out to make up his mind. After 6 weeks in a minimum wage job he changed his mind and applied to college, which he combined with part-time work.

You are right that many people don't know what they want to do, but a fair proportion of these will continue for the next 20 years not knowing what they want to do.

SkyeKnight

westernpromise wrote: »

No they aren't. Even including the student loan repayments, a graduate today pays a lower rate in tax than I did 30-odd years ago, at which time everybody paid what I paid including those with no degree.

I don't think there has ever been a year when lower rate tax was over 41% (Income tax 20%, NI 12% plus student loan 9%)? I think it's really high!

LHW99

Basic rate income tax was between 25% and 35 % between 1973 and 1996. NI rates were from 5.5% to 10% over the same period.
So 1975-6 total rate (assuming basic rate income tax) was 40.5%, and 1976-1877 was 40.75%
https://www.ifs.org.uk/tools_and_resources/fiscal_facts/
Not too different to 41%, and paid by everyone earning over the LEL, whether graduate (fewer than now) or not, whereas now the maximum for basic rate non-graduates is 32% (income tax + NI)

Fizzy11

My D didn't want to go to uni after A levels & school told her constantly that her life was over if she didn't. She hadn't applied to anywhere prior to exams then suddenly she decided to have the year off & do nothing! Not an option in our house so she did a one year media studies course at a local further education college & got a shop job 2 hours a night every night. This made her realise she wanted to go to uni so applied to go at 19 to do Journalism. Yes there are people who will say this isn't a proper degree but she knew from the start she'd never work for a paper but went on to use her degree. She never wanted to be a Barber.

zagubov

In many countries people didn't go to university until after they'd done X number of years' national service and many countries still do.

I went to uni at 17 as was common in Scotland back then. I had to stay in halls of residence in the first year, as the universities were worried that people that age wouldn't be mature enough to be decamped into student flats to feed and look after themselves.

Got to agree with that. People seem to be maturing later and later. Shudder to think of how students would cope with university nowadays.

sammyjammy

lisyloo wrote: »

The downside is for those that are sure what they want to do you are imposing an unnecessary 12 month wait.
I don't know how many are sure and how many are unsure so couldn't say whether it was justified but if I was sure then I'd consider going abroad, so that could initiate a bit of a brain drain if the UK loses the best talent.

But it could be a good thing even for those people, they could do paid or volunteer work in the area of their choice, this would give them experience and either enforce their decision or give them an opportunity to change their mind.

westernpromise

It's worth remembering that in Germany most yoof don't go to university until they're 19 or 20, because they start school at 6 and are kept there until they're 19.

At that point they do their Abitur which is akin to A Levels. They then do their year off, commonly spend four years on their degree (which is fair enough because a lot come with the additional study requirement to speak English) and thus they're 24 or so before they graduate. Quite a few start university older than our people graduate from it.