What is high school today?

James Conant envisioned the American comprehensive high school as a democratic institution that would bring together students from diverse backgrounds in a shared civic experience. Dustin Hornbeck builds on John Rury’s 2002 critique to argue that the high school has not just fragmented but shifted toward an “outsourced” model. Drawing on both historical context and current developments, he explores how proliferating curricular choice pressures have reshaped the high school landscape. Rather than serving as a civic commons, today’s high school increasingly functions as a delivery system for individualized credentials.