Education
Private Schools Youth also have the option to attend private schools which can be very costly for parents. There are religious private schools, the majority of which are Catholic or other forms of Christian or parochial schools. There are also private schools with particular pedagogical approa - ches such as Montessori schools. Additionally, there are boarding schools where students live where they go to school and away from home. Thirteen states and the Dis - trict of Columbia (Washington D.C.) have school voucher programs. These programs give families state money in order for a student to attend a private school if their neighborhood school is not of strong quality. Much like charter schools, while advocates of these programs say that it gives parents more choice and options for their students, others argue that it takes resources away from the public schools that could potentially make the school better. Home School Another option for parents who do not want their stu - dents to attend public or private schools is homeschoo - ling. As of 2021, 5 % of students in the United States were homeschooled. This entails students being educated in - dividually by their parents or a private teacher that co - mes to their home, instead of attending a school in their community. When students are home-schooled, their parents or teacher can follow the curriculum that they would learn in school, or they may choose to have stu - dents learn other subjects, such as music or art, which may not be offered at their local school. There are a va - riety of reasons why parents may choose to homeschool their child, including the desire to provide a very parti - cular form of academic, moral, or religious instruction,
a concern for the social environment that a school may be offering, and the need to accommodate for special needs or medical conditions. Some parents believe they will be able to provide their child with a more rigorous or personalized education through homeschooling. Howe - ver, one drawback is that is limits student exposure to being around their peers. Due to the COVID-19 pande - mic, more parents have opted to homeschool their child than ever before. U.S. School Academics Youth in the United States are also able to explore vari - ous academic and extracurricular interests. Unlike many school systems in Europe, college-bound students do not necessarily need to figure out their career path until college and can explore different disciplines in both high school and college. As such, there can be less pressure on young people to know exactly what their career path will be early on. Youth in college may not declare their major (college specialization) until their second year of college and can take different classes to help them de - cide what they would like to pursue. This allows youth some flexibility to figure out their career path and explo - re many different options. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) In an ever-changing, increasingly complex world, it is more important than ever that youth are prepared to bring knowledge and skills to solve problems, make sen - se of information, and know how to gather and evaluate evidence to make decisions. Pursuing this specialized type of education helps foster the type of people with skillsets needed to do the work of the future. These are the kinds of skills that youth develop in science, techno - logy, engineering, and math, including computer science — disciplines collectively known as STEM. Future lea - ders and workers must understand and solve some of the complex challenges of today and tomorrow through STEM. A policy focus on STEM education is believed to meet the demands of the dynamic and evolving work - force, building youths’ skills, content knowledge, and li - teracy in STEM fields. Vo-Tech Vocational-Technical Schools, or as they are usually called, vo-tech, is a type of trade school within U.S. high schools. Traditionally they have had several objectives, including providing youth with general employability skills and preparing them to enter employment in spe -
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