Seemingly in response to Simon & Garfunkel's musical plaint about the worth of what they learned in high school, some of our nation's leading educators in recent decades made a great case for every youngster — college-bound or not — coming out of our public schools with a workplace skill he or she could convert into a job.

This was more than a philosophy of fallback positions in case career tracks were derailed; it was an idea of preparing kids for a job market that might or might not be everything they wanted in a career — and, as a fringe benefit, giving our youth an appreciation of what it could take to compete for entry-level jobs and, perhaps, promotions.

Those educators, exercising a combination of backward glances and looks ahead, argued loud and long — but to a great degree in vain: For too many of our young people, it's a college-preparatory curriculum (largely fraudulent, as freshmen relegated to remedial this, that or the other soon discover) or a vocational-education pipeline — perhaps into well-paid work, but also into careers loaded with risk of layoffs.

So the challenges remain: How can our educators teach courses that are intellectually valuable and important to landing jobs as well?

Bob Sorensen, who teaches biology at Capital High School, appears to be on the right track: He knows that health careers are among the most promising in these times when doors are closing on so many others.

So a couple of years ago, he launched an effort aiming kids in that direction. It began with a course for 20 of them. Next thing he knew, 60 had signed up for the next one. For the coming school year, more than 200 have said they want in.

This is tremendous — and it's indicative of the rewarding career Sorensen chose back in the early 1980s after leaving research and development at Dupont.

A relative newcomer to Santa Fe, he was guided by Jim Brookover, who leads the job-shadowing program at the Jaguar campus. There'd been high interest in the medical field; now what was needed was a course in medicine's many branches — and what it would take to be part of the high-demand professions they offer.

Well, what better beginning than biology? It's nobody's idea of an easy course — but properly taught, by Sorensen, by Natalie García and by other dedicated teachers, it can be enjoyable, especially if kids can see where a teaching unit is leading them.

To bring real-life material onto the scene, Sorensen has had help from Christus St. Vincent Medical Center, which contributed hospital equipment, and from Santa Fe Community College as well as a school parent, who donated microscopes. All kinds of other equipment, and spruced-up science labs, have gone into the growing — and obviously popular — program.

And it's owing to all the support he's getting, along with students' hard work and enthusiasm, that Sorensen was so modest about accepting a Teachers Who Inspire award from the Santa Fe Partners in Education Foundation as this school year was winding down.

An excellent choice — one Santa Feans can hope will inspire other teachers to look beyond the classroom their students so briefly occupy, to points where their subjects have practical applications. And they all do.