Today's New York Times feature an article about a new program that will allow high school sophomores to test out of 11th and 12th grade and enroll early in community college. Although the program's initial scope is limited--just dozens of high schools in eight states will participate--its backers hope that the early community college option will eventually be open to high school students across the country. One proponent argues that early community college enrollment will help "those who [feel] by the ages of 16 or 17 like they have somewhere better to be."
Now, high schools often do a poor job holding students' interest, but it strikes me as dangerous to let bored 15 and 16 year olds enroll in community college rather than continue on an advanced college prep course. A 15-year-old might honestly believe that she wants no part in college. She might honestly believe that she wants to be done with school and to move on with her life. But if we let that 15-year-old eschew the final years of high school to enroll in career training, she might never have the opportunity to take that life-changing chemistry or AP US History class that will ultimately spark her passion and set her on the path to college.
Calls for a de-emphasis of college and an increased emphasis on vocational training have been ascendant of late, but this program, oddly, targets the top students--those who are able to pass a battery of tests at the end of 10th grade. We might quibble as to whether it's a good idea to track some students into vocational programs (I'm looking at you, Charles Murray), but even if we do think that too many students are going to college, this program targets at least some students who are college-ready. And, by dangling the opportunity to get an associate's degree in two years, we risk putting some of these college-ready kids on the wrong career path.
If high schools are boring students--and many of them are--it's probably time to examine the 11th and 12th grade curriculum itself. High schools should probably offer a broader mixture of vocational opportunities and college prep courses. If high schools can't afford to offer those programs on their own dime, students should be able to enroll in high school and community college simultaneously. And it's time to take a long, hard look at why students feel so bored in school--if conventional classes are boring students, they probably need to be overhauled. But ultimately, we do high school students no favors by allowing them to make a potentially rash decision about their future after a bare demonstration of minimal academic competence.