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<p>barrons!!! I totally agree with you. College has been oversold just on the basic assumption that as a society, we believe that everyone should be attending college. The reality is that there are many students who graduate from high school who lack the basic reading and writing skills to be successful in college in addition to those that may not be ready (socially, emotionally) to attend college immediately after high school.</p>
<p>In the NYC public school system, I think the worse thing that happened is that they got rid of the majority of the vocational education schools (along with the co-op programs where students gained work experience). Vocational high school was the place where students went to school and got cosmetology licenses, LPN licenses,learned typing, stenography and keyboarding, learned auto mechanics, basic carpentry, electrical and plumbing with the goal of being able to get work after graduation.</p>
<p>A student does not even have to have a 65 average at graduation (I have seen many students graduate with GPAs in the 50’s after constantly failing courses early in high school, then pulled enough 65’s to graduate), but is guaranteed a seat at the CUNY community college in the borough that they live in as long as they have a completed application in to the CUNY processing center by February 1. </p>
<p>There was a time, when students graduated from high school, their parents purchased a copy of the Chief, the student took the civil service exam and got a job working for the city. However, in NYC, you can no longer get a job working for the NYC Dept of Sanitation or any other city agency unless you have 60 college credits.</p>