Advanced education isn't for everyone

Why is this government obsessed with educating everyone to first class honours degree standard?  Apart from it being of little use to the nation as a whole if everyone was educated to nuclear physicist standard, have they actually sat back and thought that maybe some people aren't that interested in advance or further education and want to get out and do start earning some money?  The Rathbone and the Nuffield Foundation, an education charity, have issued a warning in response to the government plans to introduce compulsory education for all 16-18 year olds. 

Richard Williams, chief executive of Rathbone has warned that compelling teenagers to stay on - when truancy rates of pupils under 16 were still high - ran the risk of turning thousands into criminals.  He believes that if children are playing truant at 16 it is unlikely that anything will change come 17 or 18 and that they will simply be left on the streets to cause trouble.  It is far more effective for the government to pressure employers to provide training for those teenagers who sought employment.