Simon Cowell wants his son Eric to leave school at the age of 10: 'A healthy, happy kid is more important than an over-educated, stressed kid'
Simon Cowell has stated that homework should be banned in schools, adding that he would be taking his 5-year-old son Eric out of school by the time he's 10, so he can work for his business empire.
In his controversial fashion, Cowell revealed he wants his only child to leave school by the time he is 10 years old, despite England's school leaving age of 16.
During a recent interview with NBC, the TV personality explained: "Listen if I can get him out at 10 to come and work for me then I would." The media and music mogul then went to reason that he turned out to be pretty successful even though he left school at the age of 16.
According to reports, the music executive attended Radlett Preparatory School, the independent Dover College, and Windsor Technical College, where he gained GCE O Levels in English Language and Literature, and Sociology.
During his interview, Cowell insisted how he was better off leaving school than attending it.
"I was better off out of school than I was in," 'Britain's Got Talent's head judge insisted. He added, "But I didn’t have that major stress about homework, because I would just throw it away. A healthy, happy kid is more important than an over-educated, stressed kid."
However, this is not the first time the TV personality has spoken about his son leaving education early, as he previously claimed he would "100 percent encourage him" to finish school at the age of 16. Simon made these claims during an interview with BBC Radio 2 back in November 2016.
The Lambeth native explained: "I don’t understand why you would want to torture someone to be somewhere they don’t want to be but actually want to go out into the real world and make a living. Everyone has different views on this and I have been criticized for saying this in the past."
He continued, "But I really feel bad for people who are like myself who were told if you don’t achieve this by the age of 16, 18, 21 your life is going to be a failure. I just don’t agree with that and I would just say to Eric: 'This is what it is, you’ve got to do it, learn whatever you possibly can, do as you’re told and then if you want to leave at 16 you can come and work with me'."
His comments were earlier criticized by former Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove, who reportedly said that the media tycoon should promote hard work at school and "not rubbish it".
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