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| Laura Dekker |
Even The Times, which might have been expected to applaud such chutzpah, used an editorial yesterday to say it was "a bad decision that sets a terrible precedent for other children tempted to risk their lives".
Yet surely the world would be poorer if, across history, brave young men and women had not set out to do their own thing - often, it should be noted, supported by their fathers?
Laura Dekker joins the pantheon of teenage heroes. Here are seven others:
Alexander the Great
Alexander was only 16 when his father, Phillip, left him in charge of the kingdom of Macedon so he could go off warring. Alexander didn't let being a whipper-snapper hold him back from soundly routing an attempted Thracian uprising, repopulating their land with Greeks and founding a city there, Alexandropolis.
Marco Polo
Polo was 17 when he left his home in Venice with his father and uncle and set off on a series of adventures that lasted 24 years. His travels were later recorded in a book, Il Milione, which was largely responsible for introducing Europeans to Central Asian and Chinese culture.
Joan of Arc
Being burnt on the stake at 19 may not sound like the hallmark of success. Let us not forget, however, that by 16 Joan had ended the Siege of Orleans, which had lasted for eight months, in just nine days, thus turning the tide of the 100-year war against the invading English and leading to the coronation of the French king Charles VII.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The child prodigy's prodigy, Mozart didn't waste any time with daft notions of formal schooling. After proving himself precociously talented musically by the age of five, he then spent much of the rest of his youth touring Europe with his father and dicing with small pox but still went on to write some of the most beloved music ever heard.
Mary Kingsley
Mary had no formal schooling either, but she did have a father who was passionate about travel and put his daughter to work researching and taking notes for his study of comparative religion. When he died, leaving his work unfinished, Mary headed off to Africa to complete it, producing books in which she did her best to enlighten European views of Africans as savages.
Charlie Chaplin
Had Chaplin gone with what the authorities had planned for him, he would have languished in a pauper's school in West London. Instead he was determined to improve his situation and headed into the world alone at 12, chiselling himself out a career as a child actor which led to his becoming the most successful entertainer of his day.
Louis Armstrong
Having already been a sketchy attendee, Armstrong dropped out of his New Orleans school aged 11. He learnt to play trumpet by hanging around in dubious bars and brothels, and never looked back at any of it with remorse. "Every time I close my eyes blowing that trumpet of mine - I look right in the heart of good old New Orleans...It has given me something to live for."
Read more: http://www.theweek.co.uk/people/44636/brave-laura-dekker-should-be-glorified-not-criticised#ixzz1kOKs8yyI
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