Career and College in High School

America's education system today is completely focused on sending student's to college. College is a good thing when you know what you want to do. However, there are many well-paying careers that don't require a college education, mechanics for example. To go to college and then go to a shop and work is a waste of time and a waste of money. You may learn some fancy skill, but you are not going to use it usually and have wasted thousands of dollars.

Some economic analysis into this shows that there is a limited supply of college slots in America and a gigantic demand to get into college without then using your skills you learn in whatever degree you got to make a living. This is a waste of money and students that want to do a career that requires a college education then have to pay more to do something they would have done anyways. In other words, society is wasting thousands and thousands of dollars.

The problem lies in High School. When my grandparents were in school they took senior civics which taught them how the world worked and helped them learn about careers and the paths that were available to them. They then didn't need to go to college because they had already learned the basic skills to be functioning members of a democratic society. If they learn economics and political science in senior civics along with the other classes I have argued for or against than we would definitely have a much more productive active younger generation which would benefit society for decades.

To summarize, high schools need to focus not primarily on college but on preparing students to be productive and active members of society. This will benefit us for the rest of our lives.

Reasons for different Foreign Languages

Here are the reasons I can come up with for 11: Reasons being number of immigrants meaning an increased interest in learning it, and a high number of speakers worldwide.

Spanish: One of our two neighbors speak it, it is the most spoken language in our hemisphere and the 2nd in the world with 358 million speakers according to Encarta. Good use for people who wish to help people in poverty.

French: Canada's other official language, and our oldest ally's (France) official language. Good language for the Sciences and social work. Large African population when entering former French colonies before learning the local language.

Portuguese: sixth most spoken language in this hemisphere and 150 million in the world. Large Portuguese speaking population.

Russian: 5th most spoken language in the world. Spoken across eastern Europe and central Asia.

Japanese: 8th most spoken language in the world. Japan is highly advanced, large Japanese population in America.

German: 10th most spoken language. You gain some command over Dutch, Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian; 10th most spoken language in the world; it is the second most spoken science language after English; over 500,000 immigrants from Germany in the 2000 census.

Vietnamese: 9th most spoken language, 68 million speakers. You don't have to learn a new writing system. Huge number of immigrants.

Hindi: 4th most common language, 200 million speakers. Spoken in the second most populous country in the world, India.

Arabic: 8th most spoken language with 150 million speakers. Useful in today's world with the conflict with Islamist extremists in persuading the people to side with the free world. Spoken across North Africa and the Middle East. 25 countries. Definitely would be the most controversial on this list.

Chinese: Most commonly spoken language with 800 million speakers.

Italian: 19th most spoken language with 62 million, high number of immigrants. High amount of tourism. Many great thinkers.

Korean: 20th most spoken language with 60 million, high number of immigrants and a powerful economy.

I have chosen these because they are the languages that the most Americans would use in trade and travel and talking to immigrants, and what children of immigrants would be most likely to want to learn.

Multiple Diplomas

One idea I have discussed with people is that having one diploma for different goals doesn't make a lot of sense. Why should someone who plans to be a mechanic need to have the same set of skills as a programmer? The two jobs require completely different skill sets offered in high school. Because of this, there should probably be multiple types of diplomas. An issue with this is that they potentially won't mean anything, but they would allow people to get the skill sets they need without having to waste their time in other areas. They all should have 4 years of English, a semester of Health and another in Economics, and three years of History. Besides that, they should require classes that go towards certain career paths that people choose, while still having enough diversity that it would be easy for people to switch interests without spending too much money.

Drugs

Drugs are a major problem in my high school and many other schools around the country. I have watched people go from doing well enough in school that they would have graduated on time, one of them with honors, to dropping out and transferring. They ruin people's lives and makes it so that we need to spend more money in the future bringing the survivors back to where they can function in society. It would save a lot of lives if the drug policy in schools was enforced. It would save people who are gullible from being taken advantage of and save money in the long term in rehabilitation programs. We must destroy the market for drugs in the United States of America before the drug war spills over into American territory, so that there will be a smaller market and distribution would be hampered. There has been enough talk, now teenagers are calling for government to do their duty in protecting people from foreign threats.

Open Campus

A big issue at my high school is whether we should have open campus. The reason the administration has for having closed campus is because of the traffic and accidents that happened when there was open campus from people wandering off. However, we can still have open campus and avoid this problem by letting people walk off of campus to get lunch and then walk back within 30 minutes. There are enough places to get food around my school that being late will not be a major issue. This would stimulate the local economy around the school by giving money to keep operations and would make the lunch room less crowded and noisy.

The Library

The Library is the heart of the school. It provides every student with a relatively quiet place to work on homework, talk, or play card games. Without the resources the library offers, both in print and online, our schools would not work. Libraries need to be kept up to date, and need to have resources that help with three things. 1. It should give students places where they can learn things they want to learn or read things they want to read. 2. It should have the materials that high schoolers need to learn in order to be good citizens and knowledgeable in areas that are required in today's complex society. And 3. They need to have the books and Internet resources that students need to complete their projects for school. These three guidelines give a rubric to what libraries should carry to produce real learners, because some of the most important skills in life, knowing how to research on-line and knowing how to use a library, are among many other skills, only learned in the library through its resources.

Clubs

Nothing else in school is quite like a club. It gives students places to learn, have fun, and give back to their community. They should be kept for as long as there is high school. It gives high schoolers something to look forward to at the end of the day, and a time to hang out with friends in activities that are mutually enjoyed. What we have now works really well and shouldn't be changed.