my daughter in law sent her son (not my grandson) to a Walton school-- and he was taught knitting in first grade. Montisourie (Spelled wrong...but the point) also teach first and second graders 'cooking' and have them handling sharp (really sharp!) knives.
NYC has (or had until a few years ago) Aviation HS-- every one graduated with pilots licence, and 90% of the graduates where sucked upped by the avaition industry... it was a trade school that graduated junior engineers. Automotive HS still exist.. and its graduates often end up in company sponsered 'intership programs" that include college scholarships.
old timers might remember the film "Fame" -- which featured one of NYC's "arts' HS-- Sara Geller--(buffy, the vampire slayer) is a graduate of La Guardia school for the Arts.. other graduates have gone onto professional dance careers, or to Julliard.
in the past, NYC "technical' HS used to graduate students with as LPN's (Licenced practial nursed, not RN's, but still a good skill.) and licenced beauticians.
most school systems aren't large enough to meet student needs like this, but NYC highschools do have programs for oceanography, photography, and even vetinary skills.
some of the skills are "shop" (the vetinary program can result in a graduate who is skilled in dog grooming, or in a high life science program that is ideal to pursue vetinary medicine.)
i think it is wrong to presume everyone wants (or needs) to go to college. It should be an option, but societies that value their philosophers more than plumbers, will soon find that neither their philosophies or their pipes will hold water!
