Comprehensive high schools are the most common form of public high schools in the United States and are meant to serve the needs of all students, as compared to the common practice in other nations in which examinations are used to sort students into different high schools for different populations. Some high schools specialize in University-preparatory school academic preparation, some in remedial instruction, and some in vocational instruction. A typical comprehensive high school offers more than one course of specialization in its program. Comprehensive high schools usually have a college preparatory course and one or more scientific or vocational courses.
Many school districts in the US also have schools tailored to high-performing students and other students who do not succeed best in a comprehensive environment. However, these schools may also have varying numbers of high-performing student classes. This can lead to unpreparedness in post-secondary education.
Famous quotes containing the words high school, high and/or school:
“Someday soon, we hope that all middle and high school will have required courses in child rearing for girls and boys to help prepare them for one of the most important and rewarding tasks of their adulthood: being a parent. Most of us become parents in our lifetime and it is not acceptable for young people to be steeped in ignorance or questionable folklore when they begin their critical journey as mothers and fathers.”
—James P. Comer (20th century)
“As high as mind stands above nature, so high does the state stand above physical life. Man must therefore venerate the state as a secular deity.... The march of God in the world, that is what the State is.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“Sure, you can love your child when he or she has just brought home a report card with straight “A’s.” It’s a lot harder, though, to show the same love when teachers call you from school to tell you that your child hasn’t handed in any homework since the beginning of the term.”
—The Lions Clubs International and the Quest Nation. The Surprising Years, II, ch.3 (1985)