Pokemon and Education

Just a quick little thought...

When I was younger, I used to wonder why the trainers in Pokemon that were still kids didn't seem to attend school. I read one story where an author explained this away in an interesting manner, but I was just thinking myself. Education is something we here in the "first world" consider to be important and necessary. Pokemon doesn't even take place in this same world (possibly a variation of it since real world places are mentioned both in original Japanese and in the dub). So why would they necessarily think that our brand of eduction is important since Pokemon seem to be such a huge fixture in that world? They wouldn't necessarily, and there's nothing wrong with it.

Just the thoughts of someone studying anthropology and learning to appreciate other cultures, I guess.