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I don't think I agree about the PE requirement, schools being what they are. 12 years of co-ed games involving balls sounds hellish. I was at a school once where they took the teens hiking through the forest for a week at the beginning and end of the term, and if that kind of thing is on offer as "PE," or some robust swim facilities, or dancing, or other non-gym physical activity, that's fine. Otherwise, to be of much use, they would probably have to be sex segregated, which is so fraught in the current society it would surely be absolutely bungled. Are the basic training requirements primarily reduced for unfit men, or so the they can say men and women are completing the same requirements? Maybe if we stopped relying so much on illegal labor and picked our own fruit and veggies, we wouldn't be such heads in jars.
For high school, I got a associate's degree from a community college in place of a high school degree, and will likely encourage my daughters to do the same, unless they have a compelling reason to do otherwise. The dream of the One True Common Core Curriculum is silly after about 10 years old or so.
Some high schools have unusually robust "career and technical education" programs, with actually good shop, mechanic, home economic, culinary arts, pre-nursing, cosmeology, and other programs that result in enough skill to be employed as an apprentice. That seems like a good trend that I hope will continue.
How does this work? You just take kids out of high school and then you can send them to community college?
I was in a pretty permissive state, so my mother took me to the local community college when I was 16 and signed some forms saying that I was duel enrolled as a homeschooler and in the classes of my choice, and then since I actually was homeschooled and had no transcript to speak of, I took some placement tests in math and English, and signed up for classes. The state universities had an agreement with the colleges to automatically admit anyone with an AA, so I went to one of them. Otherwise, I think I would have taken the SAT or ACT, with those courses counting for my GPA and applied like a high schooler? I'm not completely sure, but some of my friends did go to other universities afterwards. Some colleges and high schools work together for actual duel enrollment as well, where they take classes at both.
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Yes, my coworkers do it as a matter of routine. In my state you can withdraw from school and as long as you pass the GED exam can’t be denied community college admission, but can be denied university admission on that basis. My understanding is that you’re probably not getting into a selective private school with an associates from a community college and no high school diploma, but that special programs to transfer to northwest Iowa state, bumfuck nowhere campus for a year and complete a bachelors are routine.
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