"until the kids come from middle school and cannot find a job that easily, often ending up doing completely stupid work like cashier or whatever else for the rest of their lives."
Your comment took a strange turn there at the end. I don't know even a single person that went from middle school to the job market. And if someone does, the job market probably won't be very good, that's common sense.
Nah, definitely not illegal in the US, like 30%-40%+ of my high school dropped out at the day they turned 16 (or maybe 15... forgot exactly which one they let you drop out at).
Also... I graduated before I was 18.
EDIT: I was in high school two decades ago, so it might have changed since then.
Its never been federal officially although theres substantial funding bribery over the years (like drinking age enforcement), age has changed wildly over the years, vast increase over the last two or three generations, and wide variance in religious vs non-religious reasons, parental consent vs no parental consent required, etc.
Excuse me for the misunderstanding, I live in Europe where middle and high school are one. It is not compulsory anymore after reaching 18yrs old or after getting a diploma.
Still then, having a high school diploma doesn't make any difference at all in the job market, it's a worthless paper most people never need. Almost everything learned in middle and high school is worth 0$, while in real life pretty much only the dollars count. When people come to my company looking for a job I only hire them when they have the skill and are nice persons to be around, I'm not interested in whatever diploma or certificates.
> When people come to my company looking for a job I only hire them when they have the skill and are nice persons to be around, I'm not interested in whatever diploma or certificates.
I don't own or run a company, so my comments need to be taken with that in mind.
The point of taking into account certs and other similar notions in the matter of who to hire, provided those items were not done in a compulsory manner, is to help determine if a person has what it takes to stick to something long-term.
I can understand not caring about a high school diploma, to an extent. I would certainly want to know if the person can communicate well, both verbally and in writing (I wouldn't trust to get either of those indicators from a resume, either). I would want to know if they had a good command of the commonly spoken language. I would also want to know if they could do basic arithmetic, and higher math if the job required it. I would want to know if they understood hierarchies and sorting, as well as searching (manually - you know, skills you learn from research in a physical library of physical books). Do they know how to properly file things (physically or virtually) - or do they just dump everything in a single spot (which might be ok for a single person, but in a company could cause chaos)?
These (and others) are all skills which could be indicated by knowing they graduated high school, and what their GPA was during that time.
However, again that is all compulsory. It doesn't tell you if they really stick with tasks - though usually someone with a low GPA (but still graduated) may tend to have poor skills at staying on-task (especially if that task bores them, or they feel they are doing poorly at it).
That is where having those other certs - ones they have taken and (usually) paid for - provided they are legit of course. Someone who had paid for a course, taken it in full, and completed it with a certificate to show such (or a diploma or similar from a University, College, or other post-secondary training/learning) - shows that they stayed and finished the job, through thick or thin, whatever the adversity.
I would want to know this as a business owner hiring a person, personally. It would mean that I wouldn't likely be hiring someone who is just going to learn some things then bail on me 6 months later. Or someone who, when I give them a challenging task, won't just flail around aimlessly and then quit because they couldn't get it done. I wouldn't be looking for a "know-it-all" - in fact, I'd rather have someone who asked questions when challenged, as it would show curiosity and interest in learning. But I would want someone who will keep going, even when things get tough, awkward, or the light seems dim at the end of the tunnel.
Now - not everyone can afford to get such certificates, and they shouldn't be used as a proxy (you can gain similar ideas by seeing how long they stayed in past positions of similar nature - hopefully that's reflected on their resume/cv and what you learn from them in the interview). But those who can show such paperwork would have a leg-up in that area of hiring decisions.
Someone who didn't have that paperwork? Well - they would have to prove in some other manner that they will stick to something when the going gets tough. If they have that capability, they should be able to do that in some manner, I would hope.
Again - those are just my thoughts. Since I don't own a business, nor have I ever, nor run one - well, maybe they bear merit. After all, if I were so smart, I should have my own business by now at 46, right?
Your comment took a strange turn there at the end. I don't know even a single person that went from middle school to the job market. And if someone does, the job market probably won't be very good, that's common sense.