Simon Cowell would encourage Eric to leave school

Simon Cowell would encourage his son Eric to leave school at 16.

The music mogul says if the two-year-old Eric – his only son with partner Lauren Silverman – isn’t happy in the education system then he would tell him to quit and go and get a job.

Simon – who says he found school boring as a youngster – told BBC Radio 2: "I’d say to Eric, ‘Leave at 16 if you want to work’ – 100 per cent I would encourage him.

"I don’t understand why you want to torture someone to be somewhere where they don’t want to be."

And in instead of working his way through higher education, including university, Simon said that he would encourage Eric to work for him.

Speaking about his own school experience, the 57-year-old star, added: "I wasn’t particularly academic, I found the whole process tedious, monotonous, too many rules, and I made up my mind then, when I’m 16, I’m out."

And it seems as if Eric could follow on his father’s footsteps as Nicole Scherzinger says he’s exactly like his famous dad.

Nicole – who sits alongside Simon on the UK version of ‘The X Factor’ – recently revealed: "I think he just cloned himself. He is just like Simon, he never listens to me.

"I’ll say, ‘Eric give me a hug’ and he walks away. I’ll say ‘Do you want a cookie? Can I have a bite of your orange?’ and he just ignores me.

"He goes to his dad all the time, he loves his dad."