Between Hope and Despair

By Tom Vander Ark and Tony Wagner

For most students, high school is a time of life spent precariously between hope and despair. Faced with an increasingly diverse group of teenagers as well as shrinking resources, the American comprehensive high school has become a giant shopping mall of choices. These large, anonymous high schools create an impersonal atmosphere where student success or failure depends largely on the academic track followed.

About one-quarter of today's students take a course of study called college-preparatory, a disconnected group of classes often taught by teachers without detailed knowledge of the disciplines that supposedly prepare students for higher education.

Half the students wander through high school on the "general track," a path of least resistance and low expectations that results in a lack of marketable skills. Most general-track students do not learn the "keys" to a successful life: the expectation of opportunity, the ability to communicate effectively in a variety of settings, and the skills to address complex problems, often as part of a diverse team. Some of these students attempt community college, nearly all of them need remediation, and most of them leave...