I was leafing through the job section in New Scientist and it set me thinking, why are parents, teachers and the government so hell bent on forcing children through A levels and degrees ? There is a job advertised for which you need the following qualification, a PHD in Molecular Biology, plus the company would like you to have five years working experience and knowledge of statistical mathematics. Let us examine this, you could have left school, become an apprentice at, lets say a garage, at 16, or you could have stayed on for two further years to take your A levels. Then on to university for four years to get your degree, then another four years to complete your thesis and gain your PHD. Even leaving the 5 years work experience to one side, you are now 27, never having worked you have most likely run up substantial debts during your student career, you have no savings, no pension plan, no home beside your parents. Billy, who left school at 16, qualified as a car mechanic at 18, after seven years of working for Ford he set up on his own two years ago, he works hard, opening his business evenings and weekends if it suits his customers, and it does - they come back, and tell their friends. Billy now earns well in excess of £35,000 and it is increasing steadily. So what was the princely sum being offered by the biotech company to its well educated researchers ? £18-24k. I kid you not, and this was in no way atypical of the jobs and tenures on offer. As a country we have far too many children going automatically into further education, and a desperate shortage of people becoming plumbers, electricians and other skilled tradesmen. This is why they can afford to charge you £50 an hour, plus call out. A friend of mine is about to start training to become a plumber/gas fitter, two years training on £15k, with company van, when qualified he could earn as much as £50,000, there was an article in the Times last month where it was revealed that electricians in London could earn close to £70,000. I have sometimes thought of having a change of career, but if I do decide to stop frying bacon and peeling spuds, I won't be going to University as a mature student, no way, it will be plumbers night school for me.