School dropouts occur most often among boys in the 10th grade of academic courses. Evidence suggests that they and others who finish high school would have had more personal satisfaction and value from a vocational-technical curriculum. Occupational preparation, if provided in schools, can make students ready for successful introduction to employment or to post high school training, thus giving these years more value to the student while lowering the rate of high school dropouts. A concentrated program of occupational guidance beginning early in elementary grades, can impart accurate information about many fields of work and nurture positive attitudes of respect and admiration for labor. One of the most comprehensive curriculum plans for such a program is that adopted by the Michigan Department of Education and reproduced here in the Appendix. It proceeds from this start in the early grades to a stimulation of interest in junior high and a training in high school, not in the narrow restricted specialities, but rather in broad occupational clusters. Tools for increasing the effectiveness of such a program of occupational preparation include: (1) occupational guidance and testing centers, (2) on-the-job orientation of counselors, (3) advisory committees for vocational-technical programs, and (4) expanding the use of present vocational-technical facilities. (MU)