[valkyrieanne]

Bet every one of my sons could have passed the test to get a GED by the end of 8th grade.

I'm sure they could have. If someone can pass that test at 8th grade, they shouldn't *have* to go to high school at all.

But there really is a difference between a GED and a tough college-prep program. That's what the "failing public schools" mantra doesn't address - that we really do have a three-tier system, one for the "remediates," a middle-of-the-road college prep, and a high-intensity college prep track taken by about 10% of the students.

That's a matter of what the *colleges* wish to do to admit someone, and I don't think that should be the engine that pulls the high school train. If an engineering school requires high school calculus for admission, and the GED barely covers geometry, it still makes no sense to expect "every child" to do the Lake Wobegon thing and take calculus. Let those who can barely master geometry take an exit exam equivalent to the GED and *leave.*

[GoLightly]

That sounds very close to what I was told is or was the German system. Kids are tracked differently, based on abilities, starting after the 8th grade. High school is college prep & only the qualified can go that route. The rest of the kids go thru trade school, with a smattering of subjects with a liberal arts bent, such as a continuation of the foreign languages they started in the earlier grades.

The high school my kids went to had both a college prep track & a track towards a few different trades. Things done at the high school included apprenticeships in a few fields & one class builds a new house every year. There's also an agricultural program, cuz a percentage of the students live & work on family farms.