We need to put an equitable amount of energy, effort and resources toward connecting both labor groups (high school and college graduates) to full-time quality employment.  ALL high school students should have equitable access to support towards their post-secondary journey. Providing tangible career and employment services to high school students would absolutely impact their ability to find a quality occupation and launch a career and thus would help reduce the economic gap between high school and college graduates.

ALL high school graduates can thrive with the proper amount of support and resources. But it is important to recognize we all come from different circumstances and  backgrounds and have our own personalities, dreams, interests, passions, skills, strengths and priorities. And we all mature, grow, learn and develop at different rates. We want to foster a society that allows and encourages all youth to explore and find a path that works uniquely for them and then provide the needed support and resources to help them get there. We are actually huge advocates of post secondary education, particularly for marginalized communities, but we don’t believe pursuing higher education directly after high school is the best or realistic path for everyone.

Fortunately, there are truly many roads a high school graduate can take to find success. A high school degree opens up a tremendous number of quality occupations and careers across numerous industries and sectors but we don’t tend to educate or connect our high school graduates to these opportunities. In fact it is almost taboo to do so (because we should be encouraging going to college). This must change.

Let’s make sure all of our high school graduates have support building a plan of action for post high school. Let’s help our high school students explore different occupations, create a professional resume, gain interview skills and learn how to successfully navigate a job search. Let’s leverage the power of community  and service and connect high school students to career mentors. Let’s teach all youth how to budget, save, avoid debt and build credit and healthy financial habits. Let’s normalize and encourage pursuing trades, lucrative blue collar careers and other quality professions that don’t require a 4-year degree to pursue. Let’s normalize working full-time for a few years after high school, saving and then going to college at a later age when we are properly prepared and ready for that investment and level of education. 

Let’s bridge the gap for our high school graduates and help EVERYONE succeed.