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Introduction

Since the transformation of secondary schooling from an elite institution into one that is open to the full range of American youth, our educational system has struggled with the question of how best to prepare students who are not bound for four-year colleges. For the most part, the response has been located in the comprehensive high school, which divides students into vocational, general, and college-preparatory programs, according to students' purported capacities and interests (Trow, 1961; Conant, 1959, 1967). Despite the ubiquity of comprehensive high schools, questions remain about the adequacy of schooling provided to students outside the college track (e.g., Rosenbaum, 1976; Oakes, 1985). How much academic training should non-college-bound youth receive? Are they well served by the general track? Would they be better off in an academic program, even if they do not proceed to college after high school? Other chapters in this volume (Kulik; Rasinski) examine the merits of high school vocational training. My task is to assess the value of academic preparation for success on the job market among those who do not attend college. Would these students fare better at work if they took more academic courses in high school?

Of course, there are many reasons that students should engage in academic study at the secondary level, quite apart from any possible payoff in the labor market. Academic preparation keeps students' options open, in case they decide to attend college later. Among students who do not attend four-year colleges, moreover, those with more academic training in high school are more likely to enroll in junior and technical colleges. More generally, academic study is (at least potentially) intellectually enriching: It promotes appreciation of science, literature, and other benefits of modern life, and provides important preparation for citizenship. All these are valuable reasons for enrolling in academic courses in high school, but they are beyond the scope of my inquiry. I will return to them briefly only to place the findings of my investigation in a broader context.

This paper focuses on whether academic programs and courses contribute to the labor market's success of noncollege youth. I consider four aspects of labor market success: Being employed (versus unemployed), earning high hourly wages, achieving high annual earnings, and attaining occupational status. I focus mainly on outcomes shortly after high school (the first five years or so), but also review the few studies that have examined long-term effects. For the most part I discuss studies that address the question directly, with evidence on the relation between course work and labor market outcomes. I also take note of indirect evidence on the question, by linking studies of course work and academic achievement on the one hand, with studies of academic skills and labor market outcomes on the other.

These questions are of more than theoretical interest. A variety of recent reports have argued that non-college-bound youth are poorly prepared for life after high school (e.g., William T. Grant Foundation, 1988a, 1988b; Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, 1990; Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills, 1991, 1992, 1993). According to these studies, many young people entering the labor market after high school lack the necessary skills to become productive employees in the firms of today; even more so, they lack the training needed for the firms of tomorrow. Hence, we need to learn whether more rigorous and extensive academic preparation in high school would better enable these youth to find work and succeed on the job.

[Abstract ]

[Why Should We Expect a Linkage? ]