Life After High School Around the World In the United States, recent high school graduates have increasingly been focusing on college attendance. In recent years, about two-thirds of high school graduates are enrolled in college between their teen years and age twenty-four. About one-third of the same population primarily participates in the workforce, meaning that they are employed or are looking for employment (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2020). Of those who attend college, most (about 69 percent) are considered immediate enrollers, meaning that they begin college in the first fall academic term immediately after their high school graduation (NCES, 2020). Other countries, especially high-income nations in Western Europe, have similar trends in college education, but fewer students start immediately. Gap years, overseas experiences, or mandatory wait times all lead students to a wide array of pre-college destinations. In Denmark, for example, the number of students who take a "year out" are so high that the government has sought to give students cash bonuses for attending immediately (Anderson, 2009). For several decades, only about 25 percent of Denmark's high school graduates enrolled in college right away, and that number continued to drop in the 2010s, with a record low of only 15 percent in 2018 (Ritzau, 2019). Compare that to the U.S. numbers mentioned above, where over two thirds of the students enroll in college immediately. And note that in Denmark, college is almost universally free. In the United States, this life transition point is socialized quite differently. Taking a year off is much less common than some other countries, but has certainly picked up in recent years. In most cases, U.S. youth are encouraged to select a few target colleges or potential workforce options by their late teens, and to get started on those pathways soon after high school. As mentioned above, many U.S. students do not attend college, but most of those students are in the workforce (including the military). Other nations have entirely different approaches based on available educational institutions, financial circumstances, and family needs. In some nations, students often go to college soon after high school, but do so in other countries (including the U.S.). Dozens of nations require military conscriptionmilitary servicefor men, and a few (such as Sweden, Israel, Norway, Eritrea, and Venezuela) for women as well. How might your life be different if you lived in one of these other countries? Can you think of similar social normsrelated to life age-transition pointsthat vary from country to country?

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Summarize the essay This essay compares and contrasts the transition from high school to postseconda... View the full answer