Do we specialise too early in our education system?

Honestly, In my opinion, I think we specialise wayyy too late. Pick off academic kids when they're young, push them more where less academically gifted kids cant flourish. Hate to say it but they "hold back" a gifted minority which this country needs to succeed in international commerce. We need skilled/talented graduates, not more graduates. Its cruel to keep someone on through A levels when all they're gonna get are a string of E's and U's. Vocational training or straight to the job market are much better options for these people, save them wasting years of their lives.

Being gifted and knowing what you want to do are not the same things...

Yeah...that's why I said "It's different for everybody..."

Personally I'd rather be a master of one than a jack of all trades. I'm doing a physics degree and will follow it into a career. Would I rather have concentrated on just physics and relevant subjects to a point where I know it at a greater depth at the expense of missing out on those wider subjects? Absolutely yes.

It's all about priority, and different people have different priorities. I for one judge myself to be a well-rounded member of society with regards to the contribution I make to society...not by the variety of my knowledge.

For me, it's been a recurring issue throughout my education that the choices I've made that narrowed my curriculum are not the same ones I would have made by the time I've finished that part of my education.

Some people know exactly what they want at a young age, or at least know where they are heading. Others don't, or change a lot, or think they do but re-decide at a later stage. For the former, GCSE and A-level options are great - means they're only spending their time on relevant, worthwhile subjects. For the latter, our system of specialisation from an early age can be disasterous, as by the time they do know where they want to be, their previous decisions could have already ruled it out.

I'll use myself as an example: because of where my birthday falls, I made by GCSE choices when I was thirteen. I lost interest in three of them by the time I was in early year eleven. The subjects I would have chosen as a sixteen year old just finishing would have been completely different to my thirteen year old self. Some TSR-ers will know my A-level and uni situation; if not, a brief summary is this: I based my A-level choices on subjects I enjoyed, and half-heartedly applied for uni to a course I sort of had an interest in. By the time I knew where I wanted to be heading, I'd practically finished A-levels ... in the wrong subjects (it was about April of year thirteen.) It was only through some good conversation skills and quick thinking that I got a place on an appropriate course in Clearing, otherwise the other options would have been re-do A-levels or wait a few years to take an Access course. Again, the choices I made at fifteen are not the ones I would have made at eighteen.

I'm not the only person I know like this. To name just one other, I had a friend who thought she wanted to be architect, so she took courses accordingly, slowly narrowing it down. In the end, she realised she didn't want to be an architect when she was in her first year uni ... but by then, she'd rather boxed herself into it.

It's not an issue I often consider, because the past is the past, I didn't self-eliminate myself from the career I want ... but today, two thinks happened. Firstly, I read about a kid in year ten who already knows he wants to be a dentist and should he start writing his PS, and secondly, my friend in America said she's decided she wants to became an outdoor activities leader. She's already in uni (well, college over there,) but because the education system is broader, she hasn't ruled herself out of it yet. And I wonder, do we have the right idea about choosing our future? How many people are making the wrong choices this year, and next year, and the next...? Can anything be done about it?

tl;dr version: Does our education system force people to make potentially life-changing choices when they're still too young to know what they want?

It's different for everybody.

Personally for me I felt we're specialising too late, I'd have loved to just concentrated on maths and sciences for GCSE and learn them at an even greater depth instead of having to put up with crap like R.E, French, Technology, Geography, ICT etc. (no offence intended, but I despise these subjects).

Yes. If I had it my way:

Everyone do IGCSEs/O-Levels in: English Language, English Literature, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, History, Geography, [MFL], Ancient Greek, Latin

There's a big difference between learning crap (currently) and having a broad and balanced curriculum.