The Virginia Department of Education is developing a plan that would require all students to complete a common core of learning with outcomes based on seven dimensions of living. Students successfully completing a statewide assessment of critical knowledge and skills by the end of 10th grade would continue their education by choosing one of three tracks: college preparatory, technical preparatory, or apprenticeship. The plan's focus on sorting high school students into programs to prepare for college or work is short sighted, elitist, and deleterious. Implementation of the proposed plan could further intensify the sorting mechanisms now praticed in Virginia's public schools and stigmatize and injure educationally disadvantaged students. The proposed plan is also based on the erroneous assumption that 16-year-old students have the maturity to select a specific course of action that will determine their future career. Although the plan advocates that students should not be "locked in" to a single option, lateral moves between the proposed options would be extremely difficult for students in reality. To prepare a well-qualified work force for the 21st century, all young people who graduate from high schools should be prepared with the occupational skills for work as well as the basic skills needed to continue their education to function successfully in a global society. (YLB)