Calculus in Lower Education

Since Calculus is a sort of "big picture" view of what everything in Highschool Math actually means and looks like, should there be some kind of Pre-PreCalculus or Calculus Concepts that can be introdeuced around first year highschool?  So people could perhaps actually understand what it is they're learning?

It is probably worth mentioning that despite the low reputation of America's high school education, its undergraduate and graduate education is renown world wide.