Let me preface this by saying that I only read part of that huge "to do" list for development. My apologies if this is covered in there.
Anyway, in my last game I was thinking about how useless the children are. All they do is eat my food and move about randomly doing nothing of real interest. Then in time they turn into skillless a peasant. This got me thinking.
Since proper schooling isn't something I think dwarves would be into, what if you could assign dwarven children into apprenticeships?
For example: Say I have a child running around. I'd be able to selection him and assign him to be the apprentice of, say, a mason.
Once this was done, the Child would follow the mason around everyday and observe. Since the mason now has a child to worry about and to instruct in his art, he'll suffer a mild penalty to his efficiency. Not too high, but not too low either. Maybe 5%-10%? However, to make it all worth it a successful apprenticeship would give the Child some real skills when he fully matures and becomes an adult/peasant.
Another example: I assign a child to become a 10 skill mason's apprentice. The child matures and, because of his apprenticeship, starts out at a low, but decent, skill level in masonry. Perhaps something like 1/2 or 1/3 the Master's skill and rounded down.