I would have to disagree with some of the comments. The colleges will make money out of training but surely with a good apprentice so will the garage. They can book more work in and pay lower rate of pay till fully qualified. If apprentice is d??? head then he can do the jobs that prevent the good mecahnics getting on with there jobs quicker, cleaning, collecting stores etc.
The apprentice i worked with at dealership was good lad worked well, didnt like the learning.

A lot of them as said go because they are not bright enough to do anything else, and so are pushed to vocational type training, but its the schools & careers advisors pushing them to do it not so much the parents, I work at a local college teaching P/T, and we give an exam to try and weed out the bad ones, but i was told by an IV that every student has the right to further education teaching in a subject they choose.
They dont understand how much theory is involved and how much technical information they need to understand. A lot of our students find reading and writing & maths a struggle, hence the reason for Key skills teaching.
I wont go on any more but before coming into teaching, i thought it was the colleges do crapp training, now i know its the students who just cant be bothered, its a little longer before they need to go out and work for a living so they are happy.
Jim