England stands at a familiar crossroads in the long argument over what education is truly for — the cultivation of the mind, or the preparation of a life. Beginning in 2029, the government will offer 14-year-olds vocational GCSEs in fields like construction and child development, regulated to the same national standard as academic subjects, and paired with a pledge to open 200,000 work experience placements for under-16s. The ambition is to replace a single narrow path with something more like a continuous climb — a ladder rather than a fork. Whether the resources, the teachers, and the politi