This article presents the author's views on the present situation of American high schools. The current American high school system fails in satisfying the demands placed upon it by all sectors of American society in all classes, regions and ethnicities. He further points out several problems. Along with it, he discusses some academic adjustments and proposals. One approach he has found out is by requiring teachers to have a deep grounding in the disciplines they teach and doing away with standardized tests. Another approach he has found considerable success: the high school that is also an early college. In 2001, Bard College, in collaboration with the New York City Department of Education, created the Bard High School Early College in New York City, which provides a free education to public school students. BHSEC offers a four-year core curriculum in general education. The early college model is particularly beneficial to motivated adolescents because it forms an essential link to their continuing higher education and developing lifelong habits of inquiry. In the author's view, the high school-early college is the most viable initiative in the reform of public secondary education in the United States within recent memory.