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The Adam Smith Institute
The Adam Smith Institute is the UK's leading innovator of free-market policies. Named after the great Scottish economist and author of The Wealth of Nations, its guiding principles are free markets and a free society. It researches practical ways to inject choice and competition into public services, extend personal freedom, reduce taxes, prune back regulation, and cut government waste.
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Why imprison kids until 18?
By Dr Eamonn Butler
 Britain's Education Secretary recently unveiled plans for new vocational courses for teenagers who were not academic enough for A-levels. Making the school leaving age, as she put it 'effectively 18'. Why? You don't have to stay in school to be successful. Ask entrepreneurs Sir Richard Branson (of Virgin), Bernie Ecclestone (of Formula One), Philip Green (of BHS and Top Shop) or Sir Alan Sugar (of Amstrad), who left school at 16. Or 007-actor Pierce Brosnan, TV cook Delia Smith, and music star Alicia Keys. Even Whitbread poetry winner Don Paterson. Imprisoning kids in state-run schools until they reach 18 is a bad idea. Many will find it completely pointless and will disrupt the learning of others. Others, being cocooned too long in a protected environment, will lose the drive and energy that could make them great. Better to put the leaving age back to 14, but have a leaving exam so we could be confident that leavers actually had the basic skills they needed for living. Lots of kids who know that state education is failing them would be studying round the clock just to make sure they could get out! Feedback
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Adam Smith Institute Tel +44 (0)20 7222 4995  Adam Smith (1723-1790)
Adam Smith was the great Scottish philosopher and economist best known for "The Wealth of Nations", his pioneering book on free trade and market economics.
A wide selection of material about Adam Smith is now available on the Adam Smith website. This includes the full text of his two major works, The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations. |