[WS:] This is a standard liberal critique of the tracking system. My response to it is twofold.
First, I went through a tracking system (I grew up in Europe) and many of my school friends who went to vocational or technical track did not feel "stuck" at all. To the contrary, they believed that I was stuck in my college track program. In reality, those who selected technical track were in no way restricted from switching latter on and apply for college admission if they wished. This was less so for the vocational track - there was no direct bridge between vocational track and college, but those who wished to to apply to college could go to adult education institutions to "bridge" the gap required for college admission.
Second, no system is perfect, of course. It is possible that people will make a wrong decision in the tracking system and then have it more difficult to change careers. But the overall benefit of the tracking system over the one size fits all system in the US is that the vast majority of students who are now "left behind": will have a better chance of getting a job outside the underground economy (selling drugs or stolen goods). Besides, the US higher educational system is very flexible - you can go to college in your thirties or forties, something that is not that common in Europe. So even if you go to a wrong track in K12 education, switching to a different track is not that difficult in the US as it is in Europe. From that pov, multiple track K12 education in the US can have greater benefits than those in Europe because of the greater flexibility of the tertiary education.
My feeling is that much of the opposition to vocational and technical tracking in the US comes from prejudice against manual occupations among college educated professionals who design or influence school curricula. I think such prejudice is totally misguided. Many so called "manual" occupations require a much greater degree of critical or creative thinking and problem solving than many office jobs, most of which now require a college degree. But that is the subject for another discussion.
-- Wojtek
"An anarchist is a neoliberal without money."