It looks like you've been misinformed about American high school- biology and chemistry are standard required classes for graduation.
It's a bit of an apples to oranges comparison between countries. Americans' concepts of equality and fairness are highly averse to the sort of separation-by-test-results that is core to the German secondary education system, so every school tries to cater to every type of student, with varied results.
It's a bit of an apples to oranges comparison between countries. Americans' concepts of equality and fairness are highly averse to the sort of separation-by-test-results that is core to the German secondary education system, so every school tries to cater to every type of student, with varied results.