The old way was that your HS provided what the mythical average person needed to go about life. College was for the more "complex" careers.
Perhaps "high school" should end at age 16, with two years of publicly funded "junior college" or "technical school" available to those who select one or the other, and qualify. This would bring an adult-level decision earlier in life, and students would need to start thinking about which path to chose at about 14. Perhaps this would allow reality to set in at an earlier age. A high school diploma has become meaningless anyway - it is viewed as a "right." This wouldn't leave anyone condemned to a life of menial labor for a decision made at age 16 - there are plenty of successful people who have obtained a G.E.D. later in life, and then gone on to college. It would, however, give some measure of responsibility to the near-adult. In my own education, I found that I was getting nothing out of high school by age 16. I wanted to drop out of high school to start college, but my parents wouldn't hear of it. I got into an internship-for-credit program instead, and got out w/ diploma and started college a semester later. My fiance did drop out of high school at age 16 and started college, with her parent's blessing. All her high school guidence counselor could come up with was "But she'll miss her prom"! It seemed that the last two years of high school were devoted to trying to drag marginal, apathetic students towards their diploma, kicking and screaming. Anyone "college bound" was just marking time. I wouldn't want my children subjected to this - I'd rather they got into college as soon as they were ready, diploma or not. Just my $.02 -r.w.