WHEN I WAS in elementary school, my father worked at chemical plant. Sometimes when he needed to go in to work on the weekends, he'd take my younger sister and me along. His office was laboratory filled with all sorts of things fascinating to small child--beakers, test tubes, tubing going here and there, all manner of glass and plastic bottles filled with mysterious liquids, and an array of strange smells--most of them bad. He must have talked about on those trips, because, even at that very early age, I had the idea that was lot like his lab--a brick building you went to every day when you were really old, like 18. When you arrived, you sat in kind of smelly room with pale yellow walls where even older people talked to you and you did things with test tubes and chemicals. At any rate, never in my childhood can I recall any conversation about being about you go to college, but rather when. And, in fact, study after study today indicates that the vast majority of high school students believe that they will indeed go to college. However, despite the rising numbers of students today who aspire to postsecondary degree, too many fail to achieve their goal. The reasons for this are numerous, but one culprit is the lack of what has been termed college knowledge--the information students and parents need about getting into and paying for postsecondary education. In recent years, states have begun efforts to the word out about the importance of degree for tomorrow's work force and about the steps people and their parents must take if they are to embark on postsecondary education. KNOWING WHAT COLLEGES EXPECT The first step in getting into is knowing what sort of admissions standards postsecondary institutions maintain. Texas has addressed this matter through policy that requires counselors, as early as the elementary and middle grades, to advise students and their parents on the coursework that will prepare students for higher education. Then, during students' first and final years of high school, counselors must provide them and their parents with an extensive set of information, including the importance of completing the state's or advanced high school program. The program, with Carnegie units and course sequences similar to those required for admission by many postsecondary institutions, will become the default high school curriculum with the class of 2008. From that point on, student will have the option of selecting the lower-level minimum curriculum if the student, parents, and counselor agree that it's the best option for the child. Florida has also taken page from the get 'em while they're young playbook. Starting when students are in the middle grades, schools are to provide them and their parents with information on available career opportunities, educational associated with each career, [and] educational institutions that prepare students to enter each career. The information must also include recommended high school coursework that prepares students for success in college-level work. INVOLVING FAMILIES IN COURSE SELECTION Once families know what courses colleges expect students to have completed in high school, the next step is making sure that parents are in the loop when their kids choose their courses--seeing to it that students pick algebra II after geometry instead of that easier math course with the nice teacher, for example. States have taken different approaches to addressing this matter. Louisiana requires each secondary school, beginning as early as middle school, to give parents a listing of course offerings, the content of each, and high school graduation requirements prior to student scheduling. Parents are to sign off each year on student's chosen courses before the courses are entered in the student's schedule. …