Many leave school, although some emerge from prison with high school equivalency degrees.
There is little concern for what children are eating (ask Jamie Oliver); or for how many leave school illiterate; or how many are forced to be carers for disabled parents or for siblings when parents are out at work.
Many leave school with few or no qualifications: only around half as many British as German workers boast the equivalent to two A-levels.For youngsters, and for the economy, the costs of dropping out are higher than ever, because as in other countries, only more so employment opportunities for the unskilled have shrunk.
Unsurprisingly, many leave school early, without the skills they need to compete in the job market.
In developing countries, millions of children have little or no education, and many leave school without completing their studies.
The attrition rate tracks how many students left school each year, which proponents say is a more accurate measure of schools' success at graduating students than the dropout rate.
In 1951, the school adopted the General Certificate of Education, but students were barred from taking any exams before the age of 16, which meant that many students left school without any qualifications because of the sheer necessity of leaving school to contribute to household income.
Many days, Blum left school and burst into tears.
The program also helps participants, many of whom left school before graduation, with job-readiness training and educational services like preparation for the high school equivalency diploma test.
In some rural areas, girls are taking exams to enter secondary school for the first time and many who had left school are now returning.
Mr. Stoppard, author of so many erudite plays, left school at 17 to work as a journalist and was never formally trained at a university.
