Please help me add to this and make it less STEM-centric.
By the time a student is in high school, he or she should have more freedom in what he or she studies. In modern American high schools, this freedom is highly limited, and varies from school to school. Most of the classes students take are required in order to get a high school diploma, and in the classes students are allowed to pick, their options are limited. For example, you can't take Chinese class in most high schools, and you can only take a weightlifting class in high schools that have an appropriate weightlifting room. If a student enters college at the age of 18, he will likely be 22 by the time he graduates. If a student enters college at the age of 16, he will likely be 20 by the time he graduates. If a students wants to get a STEM degree, then he shouldn't have to be made to take non-STEM courses in high school. Of course, you're going to need a certain degree of proficiency in English in order to be successful in college, but this proficiency could be tested by a standardized test like the ACT or SAT. High school could be shortened to just a couple years by removing the concept of required classes for a diploma, and instead replacing it by a number of credits that should be low enough to allow students to graduate after a couple years if they so choose.
By the time a student is in high school, he or she should have more freedom in what he or she studies. In modern American high schools, this freedom is highly limited, and varies from school to school. Most of the classes students take are required in order to get a high school diploma, and in the classes students are allowed to pick, their options are limited. For example, you can't take Chinese class in most high schools, and you can only take a weightlifting class in high schools that have an appropriate weightlifting room. If a student enters college at the age of 18, he will likely be 22 by the time he graduates. If a student enters college at the age of 16, he will likely be 20 by the time he graduates. If a students wants to get a STEM degree, then he shouldn't have to be made to take non-STEM courses in high school. Of course, you're going to need a certain degree of proficiency in English in order to be successful in college, but this proficiency could be tested by a standardized test like the ACT or SAT. High school could be shortened to just a couple years by removing the concept of required classes for a diploma, and instead replacing it by a number of credits that should be low enough to allow students to graduate after a couple years if they so choose.
