Make the High School Diploma Mean Something Again

Moving to the college prep model ignored our differences and the real need for multiple path support during and after the high school years.

Differences are the rule, not the exception

In 1984 I watched my older brother walk across his high school graduation stage, grab his diploma then ride off with his friends for a week at the beach to celebrate. He would come back to the construction job he had since he was 17. Six years later, in 1990, I would graduate from the same high school knowing I was heading to a 4-year, state university in the fall. My middle brother dropped out of school at age 16. He never made it to high school and had no interest in ever stepping foot in a school again.

Photo by Caleb Holden on Unsplash

Three kids with the same parents with three different schooling outcomes. What gives?

In a word: temperament.

In five words: temperament, external influences, and support.

I could share many more examples of the varied outcome of schooling for children in the same family. I imagine you have your own stories that speak to this reality. I bring this to the forefront because families are a microcosm of society at large. People are built differently from the word go. The blank slate theory has been put to rest. We have different interests, talents, proclivities, and needs. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits all educational path.

However, when it comes to life after high school, society went all in on one path: college for all. And in doing so, left out a lot of kids who aren’t built for or interested in pursuing higher ed.

An article in Forbes, Why We Desperately Need to Bring Back Vocational Training in School, sums it up nicely:

So what’s the harm in prepping kids for college? Won’t all students benefit from a high-level, four-year academic degree program? As it turns out, not really. For one thing, people have a huge and diverse range of different skills and learning styles. Not everyone is good at math, biology, history and other traditional subjects that characterize college-level work. Not everyone is fascinated by Greek mythology, or enamored with Victorian literature, or enraptured by classical music. Some students are mechanical; others are artistic. Some focus best in a lecture hall or classroom; still others learn best by doing, and would thrive in the studio, workshop or shop floor.

The College Pendulum Swung Too Far

In 1944, The Serviceman’s Readjustment Act*, also known as the GI Bill, kicked off the government’s involvement in higher education. Before WWII, college was primarily for the upper class. The GI Bill dramatically expanded access to higher education by offering tuition coverage and stipends for veterans. It’s said that for every dollar spent funding the GI Bill the economy got back $7. That’s how successful it was from an economic perspective. My father-in-law was a beneficiary of this program which helped him afford college and get a degree (engineering). He eventually created his own business and contributed to his community while also giving his family a comfortable life.

*There’s much to say about this act in terms of distribution fairness. While no one was formally omitted from applying, it’s clear opportunities to access funds were purposefully curtailed:

In fact, the wide disparity in the bill’s implementation ended up helping drive growing gaps in wealth, education and civil rights between white and Black Americans.

Source: How the GI Bill’s Promise was Denied to a Million Black WWII Veterans

In comparison, The Higher Education Act of 1965, which gave us Pell Grants, federal loans, and work-study programs for low-income students set to right some of the wrongs of the GI Bill. Federal monies stopped going to private universities and were intended to provide better access for all Americans. I utilized Pell Grants, federal loans, and the work-study program to fund my 4-year degree at the same state college my father-in-law graduated from many decades prior. I’m grateful I had the opportunity and that more students have benefitted who otherwise would not have been able to afford the tuition.

But here’s the reality check: When the government got involved, colleges had no incentive to keep tuition low. This led to a push for college and higher education boomed. As the former CEO of Sallie Mae confesses about rising tutition,

“They [colleges] raise them because they can, and the government facilitates it.”

A writer for the Cato Institute notes, “Federal student loans went up. So did tuition, college budgets, and the debt that students carry for years. This system isn’t working.”

He’s right.

The push for college also caused the bachelor’s degree to become the new bare minimum for employment. Companies started requiring degrees for entry level positions so guess what happened to those with only a high school diploma? Options for jobs that traditionally offered upward mobility diminished or disappeared.

Here are some problems this swing created:

1. A large portion of jobs were closed off to young people and furthered the economic divide.

2. By putting all the financial support behind one path, we ignored other viable options that can (and do) lead to stability and life satisfaction.

3. Student debt increased significantly and graduates struggled to find jobs in their field. Many became underemployed and remained locked into debt without a job or career in the major they went into debt for.

4. The college drop out rate is close to 40%.

It doesn’t take someone with a college degree to realize this push wasn’t good for all.

The Pendulum is Swinging Back

Government programs have opened doors for people so I don’t want to discount the benefits these programs can offer. It’s clear more access to higher education can be a good thing for some people and, thankfully, colleges are responding to higher tuition costs. Newsweek released this article recently:

Full List of Colleges that Offer Free Tuition Based on Income

But isn’t it both boring and anti-American, with our industrious nature, to mandate children spend their childhoods in K-12 schooling, yet only offer them college or bust?

I have some questions:

• What if multiple paths were not only offered to students after high school, but supported like college has been?

• What if we celebrated the variety of paths loudly instead of with a tone of disappointment when students don’t choose college?

• What if we celebrated the diversity of skills that we know are inherent in our society?

• And, maybe most importantly, isn’t it time to stop the soft bigotry of white collar jobs versus blue collar jobs? The truth is, for our society to operate well, we need both. And if we don’t fill the “blue collar” jobs, we could be headed for serious trouble.

The future of America aside (ha!), I think it’s a slap in the face at best, and a waste of childhoods at worst not to help our young citizens step off the high school graduation stage and onto a path that plugs them into opportunities for growth and financial stability. If we don’t, we basically kick the problems down the road. In other words, those who need the support of a benevolent society will seek it in other ways—governmental housing or healthcare or unemployment.

Why not invest more in our young people by ensuring gaps in their skills are addressed and they are connected to opportunities best suited to their abilities and goals?

Look. I know people’s lives are complicated. We can’t prevent every bad outcome. I don’t believe in a perfect society and I don’t believe our government will solve societal ills. But, I do believe we should widen the net when we know better.

And, we know better.

Unfortunately my middle brother, and many like him, were the collateral damage of “good intentions” years ago. Vocational training was taken out of school because people were uncomfortable with reality—-which is that cognitive differences exist in children for a variety of reasons. He suffered terribly in school, but had amazing skills that weren’t appreciated or respected when the college prep model took off. Some 50 years later, we are facing a reckoning. The pendulum is swinging back. Attitudes are shifting. People are waking up to the fact that college might not be the smartest investment for everyone.

It turns out, children are different afterall.

As Hannah Maruyama of Degree Free likes to say, “Buying a degree” is becoming increasingly unnecessary. She and her husband found that roughly 7% of jobs actually require a college degree. A growing number of companies and industries are signaling they’d rather train employees for job vacancies and prefer skills over a 4-year degree, especially small businesses.

Since the pandemic, Americans as a whole have deprioritized college prep as a key function for high schools.

The Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) crunches data and produces “transformational research” that challenges the idea that high school students are locked into a win/lose, binary choice of college or not. They partnered with the Center for Public Research and Leadership to study high schools in the New England area which included interviews with students, educators, administrators, and parents. The message was clear:

High schools should prepare young people not just for college or work, but to live a “good life” on their own terms—to be fulfilled, happy adults with stable, family-sustaining incomes, strong communities, and choices about which opportunities to pursue.

Populace, a think-tank created by Todd Rose, a…wait for it…high school drop out turned Harvard professor, funded research to “understand the American people’s prioritiy for the purpose of K-12 education today”. Here are the key findings:

1. College Should No Longer Be the End Goal of K-12 Education

2. Practical Skills & Outcomes Should Be the End Goal

3. Individualized Education Is the Future, One-Size-Fits-All Is the Past

4. Education Priorities Vary Immensely by Race

5. “Better” Is No Longer the Goal — “Different” Is

Like most societal shifts, it takes time to recover from past mistakes and build a unifying path forward.

The demand for something better is on our doorstep. More families are opting out of the conventional K-12 template because it lacks flexibility and personalization. We have spent over 100 years corralling children into K-12 schools “for their best interest” and then we corralled them into college, “for their best interest”.

Creating differentiated paths to graduating high schoolers is both logical and smart.

The high school diploma needs to mean something again. It should open the next door for students, not leave them in the lurch. When seniors walk off the graduation stage with their diploma in hand wouldn’t it be better if they knew they had been properly resourced and educated while in high school? Wouldn’t it be better if they felt confident and excited about the choices that await them?

~Missy

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Thanks for reading! You may also enjoy:

The Great Educational Awakening is here: Are you in?

Unschoolers Are Uniquely Positioned to Follow the Science of Learning (& Human Development)

Podcast: Launching our Teens with Karla Marie Williams

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