A shift in the way the United States prepares students for life after high school is long overdue. The U.S. education system currently fails to prepare many young Americans to lead successful adult lives because our preparation strategy is narrow, focused on readying students to attend four-year colleges and universities. As a result, many youth leave high school no more fit to succeed in college than to thrive in the world of work. Even though high school schedules lack job related courses, vocational school prepares you more for the workforce than conventional high school because the curriculums are hands on based and vocational education combines theory and realistic approaches.

There is a need for more effective approach that supports the American system. We must offer young people in high school and beyond multiple pathways to success, instead of putting so much emphasis on attending a four-year college. Engaging employers into crucial work of preparing young people for success, such as providing career counseling and offering opportunities for work-based learning and actual employment and create a new social compact with youth, in which key stakeholders in a state or region educators, employers, and government officials -- pledge to collaboratively improve pathways for those who are now being left behind.

The structure and demographics of today’s high schools states that forty percent of white students attend high schools that is 90 percent or more white, while roughly one-third of Latino and African American students attend high schools that are 90 percent or more minorities. Minority students are also much more likely than white students to attend high schools that confront the challenges of concentrated poverty. In predominantly white, affluent suburban school districts, nearly every student arrives ready for high school work and then