Wow! A lot of excitement here.  

My suggestion is that all 16 year olds be given free tuition to any state college they can qualify for. In some cases thay might take tech courses, and that would be OK. In others they'd take HS classes in college, which happens anyway a lot. In the best cases they'd just be college freshmen.

I suggest it as an option, not a requirement. A lot of 16 year olds are ready for college-level work, and very, very few high schools provide that. (There's an adapter for foreign-language study -- 4 years of HS FL = one year of college FL).

A 16 year old who's already motivated will almost always learn more in college than in HS. A sharp student will take real college classes, and a less-sharp student will finish up his HS work.

What's the benefit for students of getting into a second- or third-rate state school instead of being developed for two years in a high school that does its job well and helps them go on to a better school?

except for the very best HSs, their classes are not as good as average college classes. As for top schools, Harvard might tend to favor an 18-y-o just out of HS over one with 2 years in at the U of Minnesota, or they might not. Especially if the UM student really worked hard, took tough classes, and did well.  

Financially, in states where the state pays both for HS ed and college ed, there's just a funds transfer.  

The high school experience itself is highly negative for a very high proportion of kids. College is really a much healthier environment with a much less destructive social scene. I think you have the social issues facing 16 year olds diametrically wrong.

For a lot of kids, this would make college possible where it hadn't been before. Free college tuition is available nowehere.

Morris is a destination school, so let it be Bemidji.

As I've said, this is an option. And one of my premises is that the HS environment is toxic for many students. Furthermore, bringing all schools up to the level of the best schools isn't going to happen. What I've suggested might not be good for fast-track kids in fast-track schools, but they don't need to choose the option, and they are a small minority.

The money not spent on HS ed. could be used to offset part of the cost of college ed., *in addition* to the subsidy already given to the college. It wouldn't have to pay the whole cost of college.

An even more controversial part of my plan would be letting kids go to tech schools. A lot of kids resist HS education when they have the opportunity, and then are out in the cold at age 20 or 22, whenever, when they finally decide to get serious, because they can't afford college then and it isn't free. Some of thise kids might actually be able to get motibvated for a tech program which actually has practical value.

There is already a mechanism in place to allow gifted students to advance faster - the community college system. Those colleges are located in most cities, where young students could continue to live at home, as most 16 year olds should, while attending college classes. I would like to see high school students have the option of attending community college for half a day and regular high school the rest of the day. In fact, I think this is now being done in some schools.