If you don't make the grade for college, you're sent to trade school or an apprenticeship program instead of high school.
I still remember kids (high school age) on a scaffold eating a sandwich and a flip top beer. Masonry or brick laying was big back then.
Yes, after 7th grade we had to apply for specialized high school. I went to natural science majors. Whoever didn’t make the cut went to that ”dumb kid” high school in town.