An Englishman's Castle

Sir, Apprenticeships should not be seen as a downgraded option. My father, the late Sir Barnes Wallis, chose to leave school at 16 with no paper qualifications, and was indentured to a shipwrights. He stated clearly at that age that he would gain more from learning “on the job”, and his skills proved transferable.
My husband’s uncle, the late Sir Alliott Verdon-Roe, left school even earlier to make his own way and his own decisions. He preferred to develop his inventive and technical skills by doing, not being guided or coerced into doing.