High school is overrated in the fact that most of the stuff they teach you is useless in real life.
Learn a trade to be an electrician or a plumber and you are set for life.
Back in the dinosaur time when I was in school (60's), there were two academic paths at the high school. You could be in voc tech (welding, shop, mechanical drawing, automotive...a bit later) or college prep. There was a little overlap (I took mechanical drawing and went on to college), but the guys in those programs (no girls allowed then!) got great, family wage jobs....once they got back from being drafted.
Seriously, people learn and enjoy different ways. Some are content to sit in front of a computer all day, some need to be outside or they go crazy (that would be me). When they kicked voc/tech to the curb and focused on this goofy one size fits all education is when things started spiraling down. The public school system is a mess, and until Teaching to the Test goes away, it will stay that way.
Very hard to unring mandates, even when they don't work. I homeschooled my daughter grades 5, 7, and 8. Oak Meadows curriculum. High school was too easy for her after being fully engaged. Very grateful for the public education I was lucky enough to get...kindergarden through university. Maybe someday it will return to some form of that....we're getting our asses kicked by every emerging nation on this planet!