Are high school grads prepared for the world?

The nation’s graduation rate is at an all-time high, with more than 83 percent of high school students receiving a diploma.

That sounds great. But while the country focuses on improving the graduation rate, we need to stop and ask ourselves: What are all of these young adults prepared to do? Are they ready for the demands society will place upon them?

When high school graduates move that tassel from one side of their mortarboards to the other, they should be signifying that they’re ready to enter the world and play a meaningful part in it by working a job, joining the military or continuing their schooling.

Unfortunately, many schools seem to be warehousing students who accumulate the required random school credits, prepared only to say they graduated. In fact, a national report found that in 2016 nearly half — 47 percent — of students completed neither a college-ready nor a career-ready course of study.

We will prepare our learners for success only when we examine how our educational system is structured and vow to make meaningful change. The most significant change must be to engage our students early in their educational careers, encouraging them to focus on life goals instead of graduation goals. A student’s target must be what he or she wants to do at 25 and 30 years old, not the year after graduation.

When we combine this longterm goal setting with harnessing the promise of technology in education, we can propel our students even further. Our children aren’t shy about integrating technology into every facet of their lives. We in education need to meet them where they are if we’re to engage them in preparing for their future.

The proof of technology as an integral part of education is building. An analysis of 15 years worth of research studies shows that efforts to give laptops to students have increased achievement and boosted their “21st-century skills.”

While embracing technology, schools need to harness the goodwill of their communities and local businesses. Such partnerships can help students envision pathways for their futures that they can’t learn from a book, video or classroom teacher. We need to start introducing students early and often to what opportunities are available in the real world and what skills they need to develop to take advantage of them. This cannot happen without first engaging local employers and business leaders.

For the prepared, the opportunities are waiting. It’s estimated that there will be 1 million more computing jobs than applicants qualified to fill them by 2020 and another 2 million manufacturing jobs will be left unfilled because our up-and-coming workforce doesn’t have the necessary skills. Guidance counselors can help students define and explore these many career opportunities.

For students who require college in preparation for their careers, studies show we also need a more realistic approach to making our children college ready.

Somewhere in the race to accumulate credits for graduation, public education has stopped looking at what colleges require for entrance. A 2016 study shows that 57 percent of students who don’t complete a college-ready curriculum are short two or more college entrance requirements — typically science courses.

The other 43 percent are missing just one — typically math or a foreign language.

As we celebrate the successes of our graduates, we in public education need to focus on harnessing technology and partnering with our communities and businesses to make high school graduation the first step to being a productive citizen..