18 to leave school?

Education Secretary, Alan Johnson, is considering raising the school leaving age from 16 to 18.

I can’t decide where I stand on the idea. Whilst believing that it is important for everyone to get a good education, there is a reason why a number of people leave school at 16. If these people were forced to stay in school until 18, wouldn’t they bring down those who wanted to be there?

Raising the school age to 18 could therefore lower the overall level of education people achieve.

Surely the best way to achieve a good education for all would be to deal with the reasons why people don’t chose to stay in school. If these are addressed there would be no need to raise the school leaving age as people would chose to stay.