Some high schools have Auto Repair,Woodworking, Plumming, Electrical, Clerical courses for those not planning on college.Math, English, Social Studies required for high school diploma College Prep programs generally require 3 years each of language,math, english, science, social studies.
Went to a little rural school, so FFA and FHA were big and included "shop" courses for the boys and home economics for the girls. College prep was basically the math/science/language you mentioned.
They weren't called that but, for many subjects, there were advanced electives that could be taken instead of a lower-level class. Probably, had I spoken to the school counselor, she might have specified the advanced classes as college prep or something, but I never once spoke to the school counselor. Rather than referring to the advanced classes as "college prep" or "advanced," we referred to the base-level classes as "dummy classes." Yeah, I know, I'll probably never be able to run for president now. Our school had a large agriculture program, with a barn and fields and everything, but I never even visited it. I kind of wish I had, but we classified the ag classes as dummy classes, too.
I don't know. I was not tuned into it back then. College was not on my radar screen. I went to community college night classes when I was 23 years old and got my associates. I was lucky to have graduated high school with my grades. It took a little teacher threatening on my part to not fail History for the second time in my senior year. I'm sure my school had all those things. It was right outside of DC...not in a rural area. There were shop and auto classes as well...I know we had shop classes in 7th and 8th grades.
My consolidated school, all grades in the same building, separated by a hallways, of two Townships, had college prep classes, but I only took one and pretty much failed that one. Algebra, Trig, Spanish and maybe a couple more. During my high school years, I had no intention of going to college. In fact, a few weeks before high school graduation (1968), I enlisted in the Navy. I knew the Draft would be after me if I didn't enlist. Actually, I got my Draft Notice while I was at Naval Basic Training in Great Lakes, ILL.. Thank the good Lord that the Navy kept me, or the Army would've got me! However, after my Navy Service, I did got to a community college for a short time. No degree though. In later years, I really, really wished that I would've continued my college education and, at least, got an AA. Would've really helped me get a much more higher paying job.
My wife has two AA Degrees and a Bachelors in Business with emphasis on Accounting. She found out, pretty fast, that she could definitely make more money with having a Bachelors Degree. And, she was right! Actually, she worked for a tv cable company where the supervisor would only hire those with a Bachelors Degree. The company went along with this. As for me, I really, really wish I would've got, at the least, an AA Degree in Business. It sure would have made my time working in the "labor" field of warehouse, shipping/receiving and stockroom, a whole lot shorter. But, I did take two online courses, that I got a Certificate of Completion from, in Purchasing and Inventory Control/Management. But, it seemed like "online courses" didn't help me much in getting a job in those two areas. Experience did, though. Other than the two courses, my education in both areas came from OJT, which isn't as popular as it use to be. So, there are those that don't think very highly of "higher education" and those that think it's totally necessarily for certain jobs. Do you have a college/university degree and, are you glad you got it?
I have a BA in Communication Arts, an MA in something called Whole Systems Design in which I blended education (teaching adults), systems thinking, and psychology, and a PhD in psychology. I like learning, so I'm glad I went through all that for that purpose. The PhD did qualify me to teach master's level and terminal degree level students at a medical school, but wasn't really lucrative in private practice. The master's bolstered my independent streak, but not so much my income. The BA got me hired by the Air Force (civil service) doing public affairs and journalism, which I enjoyed. I'm not entirely convinced that a higher education is a ticket to anywhere, except that it is an arbitrary requirement for getting a foot in the door. It's not a guarantee of high level quality in work or product produced, nor customer satisfaction.
^^^Pretty much this^^^ Even after decades of experience and having obtained a 2 year degree while working full time, I had a hard time getting an interview towards the end of my career because I did not have that 4 year piece of paper that served as the price of admission. The main thing that propped up my value in my career was getting professional certifications.
It might sound crazy to some, but I've always argued that there's much more to education, higher had other, than getting a job. I was well through my graduate education (PHD German and English Philology) and hadn't decided whether I wanted to teach, go home and join or compete with my brother to inherit the family farm, or find something else, some of which had nothing to do with my degree. There's more: During my undergrad years (1956-60) students majoring in engineering and business admin had to have two courses in literature. Now it's possible to bet a BS without ever taking a lit course. I might also add that a degree in the college of 'Arts and Sciences' required two years of a foreign language. When I declared my major in German, it no longer fulfilled the FL requirement, so I had two years of Russian, which served me well during wife's and my visits to that country. There's more to education than getting a damned job.
I've said the same thing myself many times. It infuriates me that there's talk of actually suing a university if the degree does not result in sufficient employment opportunities. Whatever happened to college being there to make you a more well-rounded person? I was 40 years old when I went back in an attempt to finish my 4 year degree. I really enjoyed the Humanities classes that I was not required to take to get my Associates. And at that age, Philosophy, Ethics, Early American Literature and other classes had a completely different frame of reference for me than it did my just-out-of-high-school classmates. I was fascinated by the contrast. The whole concept of "education" has been perverted, save the sciences and other technical degrees. The problem is that employers play a big role in this, even though very little of that college education is really applied in most jobs (although some universities have certainly watered down the requirements.) As an aside, I was in the Finance curriculum when I was required to take all those humanities, in addition to a science class (I took Botany.) This was in the early 90s.
Sorry, but I'd venture to guess that 99%+ of college students are there for one reason only: a chance at a better life (job).
Then, there are those that get a Bachelors, Masters and even Phd in their chosen career, work in that career for a year or two, then, for whatever reason, quit the job and never go back to that career again. I've heard of that happening. Unless the person got a college scholarship from somewhere or parents paid for college, all of the money spent and time/years used, just to stay on the Degree designated job for a year or two, can seem like a waste. But, it does happen. Little bit of classwork and OJT is what got me to be an EMT. But, the hours/days, pay, blood and pain I encountered got me out of the occupation and to never return. Drivers not respecting my emergency lights and siren was another reason to say "goodbye". My wife had thought of becoming a CPA, but at 50 years old, all of the study to become a CPA and hours, would've been just too much. And, some companies request a person to be a CPA to work as a Senior Accountant or Financial Analyst. Luckily, she found some companies that did request that and worked for them. For some careers, a higher education can be a nice change in lifestyle and money for trips, cruises, nice vehicle and a nice home.
I told my father that I had no idea what I wanted to be, so, to go to college would probably be a waste. But he had promised himself that all of his kids would get a degree, so we did. I got a bachelors with majors in Anthropology and Psychology and a minor in Sociology and left school to get the first job I could--milking cows. I DID meet my first husband in college but all my employment afterwards could not have gotten me in to meet the Trumps or anyone. I still don't know what I want to be but am comfortable with what I am.