DH was told by a teacher that he should skip college and be a baker. Went on to a prestigious PhD, some renown in his field. My brother dropped our of comm college a few times (I think the D grades made it obvious he was wasting time.) But got into a now popular/known 4 year (as a freshman) and the rest is history.
I have a saying: “just because the high school ways and formats work for 85% of the kids, doesnt mean something’s wrong with the others.” (Maybe 85% is high, but at the time, I was thinking of one particular hs.)