do Americans go straight from high school to either college or work?

in the UK you have to stay in some form of education until age 18 but from age 16 you get to choose what that means. Like for example you could do a registered apprenticeship, like at a restaurant with the intent of becoming a chef say, or you could do A levels which is a more standard academic track for people planning to go to university. There's other options but those are the two ends of the spectrum. Also I think there's other specifics about higher education, like I think there is a way to go from a technical apprenticeship to university but I don't know the requirements