Quote from peilthetraveler:
It used to be that kids only went to school to learn to read, write and do arithmatic. Then at age 10 or 12 or so, they go do an apprenticeship for 7 years (the last year they get paid a journeymans wage) So before a kid is 20 years old, he is already high skilled in a profession.
There are so many professions today that require degrees which could just as easily be taught on the job over so many years. It would work out so much better doing it that way than the system we have in place, as the teacher would have the benefit of very very cheap labor for 6 years, and the student has the benefit of learning and not having any debt when he is done.
Of course back then the law only allowed for 1 apprentice per teacher, so a man couldnt just go out and get a bunch of child laborers to make shoes, and the teacher also had to teach the apprentice all aspects of the business, from marketing and sales, to keeping the books and everything in between. I think doing something like this again would work well as it would help small business owners compete with large corporations, not to mention save on schooling. If we got kids out of school by age 12 or 13 we save billions on education. Really the only thing useful the average person learns in school is reading writing & arithmatic...beyond that, by the time they are 20 they have forgotten all that other useless information that they were forced to learn since kindergarten. If you dont believe me, watch the show "Are you smarter than a 5th grader" and see how many people actually havent got a clue as to what they learned in school.
