Brit here, in my 50's. Everyone should - or ought - to receive a good general level of education at GCSEs (i.e. 14/15 year old). Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, English, etc.. You'll know a fair bit about these subjects if you study for them in school. Very few people actually "need" training beyond that; although I would of course expect my doctor to know rather more than what's in a biology GCSE.
My former boss of the department learned enough chemistry through self-study. I heard Raspberry Pi was hiring guys to work as microchip design with little prior exposure.
In my worldview, everyone gets their GCSEs and goes and gets a job. OR, they follow a trade route, and attend a technical college (in the UK meaning of the word) to learn a skill. OR, the really brainy ones take an academic route, get their A levels, then head off to university to become part of the intellectual elite. I'm thinking 5% of the population here. OR, you get your A levels and then go into a polytechnic for a highly-skilled vocational job.
Polytechnics don't really exist anymore, they've all converted to universities.
Basically, we should all just return to an educational system that we had in the 70's. It was a system that wasn't broken, but we decided to "fix" it anyway.
It's basically hidden increase in standard of living - people used to join workforce at 18-19, now they do it a couple years later, after getting their degree. It means a couple years less of work and a couple more years of fun/partying. In the few countries (US, UK, anything else?) where Universities aren't nearly free, that's kind of a deal with the Devil (as J. Peterson called it), but everywhere else it's basically a free improvement in quality of life.
My former boss of the department learned enough chemistry through self-study. I heard Raspberry Pi was hiring guys to work as microchip design with little prior exposure.
In my worldview, everyone gets their GCSEs and goes and gets a job. OR, they follow a trade route, and attend a technical college (in the UK meaning of the word) to learn a skill. OR, the really brainy ones take an academic route, get their A levels, then head off to university to become part of the intellectual elite. I'm thinking 5% of the population here. OR, you get your A levels and then go into a polytechnic for a highly-skilled vocational job.
Polytechnics don't really exist anymore, they've all converted to universities.
Basically, we should all just return to an educational system that we had in the 70's. It was a system that wasn't broken, but we decided to "fix" it anyway.