You are absolutely correct, but in the process put a spotlight on an aspect of high school that I did not pursue in this essay; namely, why is it that high school is almost entirely modeled on the university purpose, structure, and content? Is high school’s sole purpose to prepare students for college? If so, why? Is this a reasonable expectation?

And, come to think of it, is my proposal really NOT how the university operates? Once you declared your major, how many peripheral classes were you required to take? In college, you take 5 classes, usually, over a 14 to18 week period meeting 3 times a week, per semester. (Many colleges are even more condensed.) College classes aren’t stretched; they are contracted. I’ve taught both AP Composition over an entire year at the high school level (a class that earns college credits) and University Comp 101 over an 18 (or 14) week semester. I can assure you that the AP class is very different. Much harder, actually, for reasons that have little to do with the content and everything to do with the world in which high school students are forced to live.