Our high schools need to be revamped. Senior year should be spent learning a marketable skill. High school graduates can go to work and earn their own way through college - if they choose to go.
I agree with you that high schools should be revamped, and also to some part that high school graduates should go to work if they can find jobs to work them through college, but I also think those that do have the brain for college, but can not afford to go to higher education should get some help.
Two examples:
1) Many homeschoolers are entering college as young teens.
My own children stated college at the ages of 13, 12, and 13. The the younger completed B.S. degrees in mathematics by the age of 18. The oldest of these two earned a Masters in mathematics by age 20. The oldest of the three was a nationally and internationally ranked athlete. He now has a masters in accounting.
2) Our Founding Fathers went to college as young teens. It was considered normal to do this.
Starting a career 4 or more years early can add up to a quarter of a million dollars or **more** over a lifetime. That alone, if used wisely, would buy a nice house and/or provide for a secure retirement.
High schools need to end at the tenth grade, and either a kid moves onto some technical school, some community college or gets a job with Burger King. This idea of twelve years being the magic number is where we’ve gone wrong.