The school leaving age should be raised from 16 years to 17 years?

On average, everyone disagrees with significant nonconsensus between 557 voters.

Reasons To Disagree

I disagree somewhat because some children are not benefitting from school at that time and would grow from working which should include on the job training.

There's no point in having disinterested kids in classes who are going disrupt everyone else.

the new zealand school system is useless and disadvantages males. we are being forced to learn more for the same old jobs and earn less. its stupid

Some people need to leave school to realise there potiential

if anything the education system should be changing to keep youth interested at staying at school, I suggest that every child should have an idea of what career path they want to take by high school and have access to hands on training

No, not all people belong at school, not everyone has the capabilities. But we should have compolsory assistance programmes for all students who leave school before the end of 7th form to ensure that they dont just become another statistic.

HOW CRAP WOULD THAT BE?

Students who are not benifiting from being at school via bad behaviour, bad influences etc and just plain not enjoying school will benifit more from being in an environment they enjoy.. just ensure that upon leaving school they continue with further education - polytech etc ir employment and apprenticeships. Just leave the age as it is or better yet drop it to 15

Im 15, im addicted to computers. School should be a choice, i can do what ever i want on the internet i even tought my self to program html and php :) i just dont like school becuase i get sick and bored from it i know alot of people that would love to quit but get alot of sh*t for wanting to go before 16 ^_^ get a hold of your selfs wah wah too much porn on the internet, NOT

noooooooo way its hard enough trying to keep 16 year olds in school now never mind 17 or 18

For the record, you can leave at fifteen with parental consent. My cousin left at fifteen to go on to an apprenticeship. This is better education and a fantastic oppurtunity and if it was raised, he would have missed out on the chance of a lifetime. I also think it's your life. I think it should be fifteen if one: you have parental consent and two: if you are pursuing a higher education, for example an apprenticeship. It should be sixteen if you have parental consent but are not pursuing further education. It should be seventeen without parental consent.

i say leav it at 15

The main reason the govt would raise this is to make the unemployment statistics look better. School isn't for everyone.

Leave it at 16. Hell, maybe even lower it if a person has found a trade they're interested in and can pursue. Raising it to 17 will only let problems for teachers and other students who actually want to be there linger. School just isn't the answer for some people.

Whilst I applaud the initiative and the diversity of the policy to raise the school leaving age, I feel that once again the government is mincing when it should rise to the challenge and take bold strides to progress. Just as raising the ages for driving, and for drinking, by only one year achieves nothing so too this policy. If we are to take our place on the world stage, look other countries in the face, and join the knowledge economies, we must have a similar minimum age for finishing education and a much better standard of basic education. Currently we lag far behind the rest of the world in terms of hours, days and years in education. Take the correct steps all at once. Raise the day to 5pm, raise the year to a full 47 weeks, and raise the leaving age to 18. Some within that age group will be able, depending on grades and skills to divert to polytech, university or apprenticeships; others will do a mixture of all three. As allowed for under NCEA as it was originally envisaged. All should be in secondary education until 18. The tertiary sector can begin post 18. As an adult educator who has seen the switch from those committed to tertiary study entering it, to all whether they are ready for the commitment, responsibility or self discipline. Leading to both failure and loss of self respect. While others are being pushed thru who haven?t got a clue what they are studying. The quest for the almighty dollar by tertiary institutions has led to them passing all whether standards are achieved or not, simply to get the next lot of fees. It has become a one size fits all commodity with the results going into the world representing NZ. Badly. V Cooper

Nah what if these Children want to be out earning money and having a life like myself!

schooling is not for everyone! It doesn't mean that they won't persue the idea as they become adults! I did and it meant more to me than when i was 16-17!!

if they dont want to be at school raising the leaving age isnt gonna keep them there i just gonna tax the country more

I think that they should make it illegal to quit school. At least until you have completed all four years of high school. They are always talking about no child left behind; how we have some REALLY ignorant people in this world, so why not?

Secondary and Tertiary education is becoming less an less important to employers now and there are so many other ways to live a good financially strong life. Although the education system has a few improvements to make

Why? What is the benefit of keeping a young person at school when they don't want to be there? It just causes problems for those who do want to be there. However, a return to on the job training and a reduction in the value of a tertiary education wouldn't go amiss. Why does a sales rep need a university degree? Too much emphasis is being put on theoretical training rather than on the job training.

At 16 you can have level 1 NCEA this is enough to go do courses at say UCOL to get up higher in a certian profession.

Yet another dumb question! Once again an arbitrary age doesn't fit everyone. There is no point whatever in forcing anybody to stay in school unless (a) they are benefitting from attending (i.e. actually learning) and (b) they are not preventing others from doing so.

School is not for everyone. Some individuals are better off working or learning skills that are not taught in school.

School is not suitable for everyone, some people find it difficult to learn in that kind of situation and deal better with the real world.

At 16, teenagers can leave home without permision, can get married, can drive, can work full time and can consent to sexual intercourse. I find it ridiculous that would trust them with other peoples lives (putting them behind the wheel of a large metal box capable of travelling of 100km/h) but not with their own education.

Why should the age be raised for leaving school from 16 to 17? It is in the individuals interest to stay at school. If they don't stay at school they will be the ones with bad jobs.

Teenagers should not drop out of school period!

If a person doesn't want to be there they will only cause disruption to those that do.

You should have the right to leave school at 15 or 16. Many people prefer to work and many people also get bullied at school, and they should have the right to leave if need be.

I actually thought NZ actually made it mandatory for school-aged children to be at school from Prep to Year 12 or 1 to 13 at age 18. I don't really have an opinion. I just think kids should start at six.

Reasons To Agree

I think that if children were made to stay at school longer, this would keep them occupied and also prevent parents from making them leave school earlier in some cases. However, while on this debate, I beleive that schools should be open longer like in other countries. The children should have to stay at school until 5pm and the afternoons should be supervised sport. If each teacher had to take one or two sports and made it complusory for children to do some sport in the afternoon then we would have less troublemakers, latchkey kids unsupervised and less obesity in the nation. It would also relieve parents of the afterschool childcare costs. In fact, most parents would probalby be only too happy to pay the school for keeping the kids for supervised sport!

i am 15 i think you should finish school if not finsh it should be 18 i think at leaving school under 18 is not good for you and your furture

even 18

More kids need to be educated!!

We dont need kids to work for minimum wage jobs we got plenty of doll bludgers out there to fill those positions. Send them to military school (none of these PC self esteem crap ones proper military school with real punishment) if they cant perform.

I left school when I was 16 onto correspondence it was alot harder but with alot of determination I passed levels 1 and 2 NCEA and am now doing a Business Administration course for a Level 4 Certificate. I think the school leaving age should be raised although I am not altogether off leaving the leaving school age as some do need to be given other chances and opportunities, I think that more branches need to lead off school for the early leaver's such as the young mother's like myself, to support not only school students but school leavers as well.

17 should be the base line, but exceptions should be allowed with the agreemant of parents and school for those who have a job to go to and aren't achieving academically. But first we need to fix our education system.

I agree, to some extent. I myself, am only 16, yet I will be staying until I'm 18, then moving onto University. I think that it is someones choice with what they do with their education, whether they stay at school and get better qualifications, or leave and go on the benefit or get a job. Although, many of my peers left school at the age of 16 and have found they are unable to go to poly-tech's because they do not have level two.

18 is the age I consider with part trade training involved.