I don't like it at all.
At 14 I have a hard enough time deciding which subjects to take for O grade, let alone deciding what kind of profession I'd follow. The engineering road seemed to be a given, but Thatcher kicked the whole manufacturing industry into touch and destroyed it in favour of turning us into a Service Industry economy (how very upper class..we are now reliant on those with wealth as opposed to the skills we had with our minds and our graft).
...fat load of good it did anyway given we had 3.5 million unemployed (Thatcher again...cow) when I left school, deferring the leaving date to take some Highers..due to the fact that there was bugger all out there waiting for me when I did leave. (due to Thatcher...did I mention that and that she's a cow?)
You can't ask a kid to lock themselves into a job that might not be there at the end of the day.
We are well beyond the 'Job For Life' era and it's important that you have an education that could carry you through a range of professions..you won't get that if you give up your education at 14 in order to specialise.
I think her motives are clear, she wants to protect the privileged.
Reading between the lines, she appears to believe that our Universities are becoming polluted by the 'lower classes' who don't give a toss about their education, while conveniently omitting any reference to the fact that all kids are pretty much the same. An equivalent amount of privileged kids probably couldn't give two fucks either and will immediately head for the easiest course available and live off their parents handouts and, eventually, job contacts.
The whole idea goes entirely against the Scottish grain imho.
Every single kid deserves an equal opportunity for education and their chance in life, regardless of how long it might take them to make their minds up.
(..and we all get a Mulligan
)
