Comment by IkmoIkmo | Hacker News Reader

Comment by IkmoIkmo | Hacker News Reader

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No, not quality, quantity. Quality is a lot more tricky to measure, and while a lot can be said about it, making broad statements like 'x year gap' aren't super meaningful.

But quantity, sure. And that's kind of what the article gets at. Universal and free public school for example isn't all that old, and while it's fortunately present almost everywhere on the planet today, the average length of studying differs a lot.

Kids in low-income countries current go to school between the ages of about 5 to 11, and then quit. Whereas in OECD countries, kids are generally obligated by law to stay in school until age 18 or so (used to be 16-17 but it's shifting up a bit nowadays).

That's a 7 or so year gap of teenage education that's completely missing for the vast majority of kids in low-income countries.

The 100 year gap in the article concerns the notion that in the year 2100, kids in low-income countries will have bridged this gap. By then, even today's low-income country kids will get more than 10 years of education, which developed countries get today, bridging the gap.

Graph from the article explaining what they mean by the gap:

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/media/images/82466000/png/_...

    Kids in low-income countries current go to school 
    between the ages of about 5 to 11, and then quit.
    Whereas in OECD countries, kids are generally obligated
    by law to stay in school until age 18 or so (used to be
    16-17 but it's shifting up a bit nowadays).

How recently do you mean by "nowadays"? At least in Israel I'm pretty sure school till 18 has been the "default" for 50+ years and I was under the impression this is not unusual for a western country (I've been living in Austria and Germany for almost a decade now & I don't believe I know anyone who spent less than 12 years in school).

In the UK for example in 1880 it was compulsory until age 10, and by 1996 by age 16. It's relatively recent that it's shifting to 18. [0]

In the largest EU countries like Germany, France, it's still 6-16, UK up to 17. Wiki may already be outdated and it may already be 18, but that goes to show that compulsory education to 18 is a pretty new phenomenon.

For example, the UK said 17 by 2013, and 18 by 2015, up from 16 less than a decade earlier.

As for France, as I mentioned it's 16, but it can be as little as 14 if you take up apprenticeship or work in your parents' company, there are exceptions that exist.

In Germany 18 is the default if you go and do your abitur, sure (probably everyone among your friends with whom you talk to about their studies has done it.) but if you get your Hauptschulabschluss you can be done at 16 or even 15. Again this is likely changing and may already have, but quite recently so.

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_education

As for Israel, as far as I know it's been age 5 to 15 (k10) since 1949, and this was amended as recently as 2009 for k12.

I stand corrected!

The only countries I know about are Norway, Sweden and the UK and in non of those countries are you required by law to stay in school for the last 2 (UK) or 3 (Norway, Sweden) years.

In Illinois, the law says you only have to go to school until you're 16. Doesn't mean most people don't go to school for longer, 16 is just the earliest you can drop out by law.

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