For Some High-School Students, Going to College Isn't the Answer

One of the hottest topics in high-school reform is the movement to align high schools' graduation requirements with the requirements for college entrance, and to make sure that any graduate who enters college is ready for success. Advocates seem to believe that the answers to public-school reform and economic competitiveness can be found by sending more people to college. However, the author's experience as a college instructor and high-school principal has led her to a far different conclusion: College is not always the answer. In this article, she discusses the gap between what students need to learn and what educators want to teach them, the societal forces that make college appear both necessary and inevitable to young people, and how reformers can begin to redesign the ways in which children are prepared for adulthood by developing a portfolio of postsecondary options that truly respond to both individuals' interests and strengths and society's various needs.