Florida high schoolers now have to pick a major

[floridafam]

www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/sou...un06,0,7627915.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines




The thought of 9th graders having to choose a major seems a little odd.

 

[ADisneygirl]

I think it is ridiculous. Kids often don't know what they want to do even while in the first year of college! They should keep it as it is and allow children to explore different electives while in H.S. and not have to make definitive choices so early on.

 

[N.Bailey]

I don't know how it works in other areas, but we just did 9th grade scheduling (both my kids head to 9th next year) and most of the classes they had to choose from were getting requirements for graduation in so they could clear their schedules for some electives in the other high school years. Some include, family consumer science (cooking) and their art requirement. Maybe there were others, but these are the only 2 I can think of right now.

The only elective my daughter took was a 1st year of Spanish and my son will be taking the 2 driver's ed classes because we held him back his first year of kindergarten, so he'll be 16 in November. They certainly did get to choose which maths, sciences and such they were most interested in, but there is no option (rightfully so) in taking these.

I guess I just don't see how a high school is equipped to handle majors.

 

[DaisyD]

My graduating senior DS had to chose a career path back in 9th grade. It WAS ridiculous. He had to chose college or technical. He chose college. He then had to chose a field to which he chose computer. He then had to stay on a track that prepped him for college. He even did community college in his senior year. Now that he is graduating tomorrow he doesn't even want to work in the computer field! He wants to join the Coast Guard. I think for most kids, 9th grade is way too early to chose your career path but that is the way they have done it here for years.

 

[N.Bailey]

My graduating senior DS had to chose a career path back in 9th grade. It WAS ridiculous. He had to chose college or technical. He chose college. He then had to chose a field to which he chose computer. He then had to stay on a track that prepped him for college. He even did community college in his senior year. Now that he is graduating tomorrow he doesn't even want to work in the computer field! He wants to join the Coast Guard. I think for most kids, 9th grade is way too early to chose your career path but that is the way they have done it here for years.

There are requirements to getting into college. 2 years of a language, certain maths, sciences, Language Arts/English etc... Without taking certain electives and staying on the academic route, no college in the nation will have you. IMO, that's a big difference than having to choose a major.

I do think it's silly that your son had to choose computers in 9th grade though. Heck, many spend the first 2 years of college just getting the required courses in without deciding on their major.

 

[Planogirl]

I had to specify a college or tech school track even back in the dark ages when I was in high school But that's as specific as it got.

 

[punkin]

Stupid, stupid, stupid. HS (and college) is for finding out what you want. You should have as many choices as possible and not narrow yourself to one career path at the age of 13. My DD13 is going to high school next year and, while they don't have majors per se, they do have tracks.

Moreover, they had her take 3 separate career placement tests this year (8th grade) and recomended that she go into business. Well, she's interested in engineering and I told her to take the results of that test, shove it where the sun don't shine and do whatever she wants.

Absolute waste of time, money and aggravation.

 

[NewJersey]

Heck, I changed majors 4 times before finally settling during my 2nd year of college. I think it's ridiculous what FL is doing. I went to a private high school up here in Jersey and I was prepared 110% and I didn't have to choose a path.

 

[RadioNate]

I think it is silly too. It is one thing to specify college or technical but a specific major is insane.

I'm sure in 9th grade I would have choose drama or music. In college I still didn't know what I'd like to do so I chose PR. After college before DS, I worked as a webmaster and then became a retail store manager after having DS.

Now I'd love to take some photography classes or maybe history. I'm 31 and I still can't tell you what'd I'd like to spend the rest of my life doing.

 

[taximomfor4]

When I went to HS in France, they did this. The difference was that they went to a LOT more school hours per year (6 days per week). They chose a path in high school, and studied HARD Toward that graduation certificate. Of course, they also don't do the varsity sports stuff, etc. They study hard and learn, and graduate with about the equivalent of an American college's Associates Degree. Perhaps they are more mature than American high schoolers, perhaps their society is just placing more priority on education, or perhaps they are just used to it that way since it's been that way for a long time already.

I don't care if my kids have to pick an area of concentration in high school. They won't be forced into that field if the change their minds, and who knows : maybe if they CHOSE an area of more interest, they might just be more willing to learn more.

 

[SC Minnie]

Our HS does career clusters. You chose in 9th grade what you want to do and you are can chose elective from that cluster. But it is not written in stone. If after your freshman year or any year you decide you don't like that career you can change.

 

[cheerful chickadee]

we did this when I was in HS, we picked a course of study and a major. it was just like college with electives, the amount of credits it takes to graduate, etc. I think it's silly too, when I started 9th grade I was 15, who knows what they want to do with the rest of their life at that time!?

 

[wdw4us2]

I figured this was coming. Last Fall, my Freshman DD and I had to see the guidance counselor to do her four year plan and pick her classes for the rest of high school.

I can understand choosing college, technical or a trade but I think it's ridiculous to expect someone who is 14 decide what they want to do when they're 22. Many college students don't even declare a major until their junior year.

I'm sure someone will end up filing a law suit - stay tuned.

 

[hellokitty86]

I always get excited when I recognize places in the news!!

I grew up in South Florida, and just moved to Northern Virginia a year and a half ago. With that said, my best friend went to McFatter (The school they are talking about in the article). Even though it is a public school, there is a waiting list to get into it and it is an A graded school- parents hope and wish that their kids want to get into that school, and it is already a school where you focus on certain subjects- for example there is a culinary program that kids apply to get into, and they cook all the school lunches, etc. It is a very good school, and I wish that every school in South Florida was like it.

Schools in South Florida are really bad- when I went to school (it was only 2 years ago) gangs were everywhere, and they were rated horribly (my school had a D grade- and I had straight A's.) I lived in a normal, suburban area but the schools were just horrible.

My opinions on Govenor and President Bush aside, I'm glad that Gov. Bush is trying to improve the schools in South Florida, and what is wrong with students picking a 'major' and studying more about that subject? I think it would prepare students for college more and help them decide which major they want to study- instead of wasting that time (and money!!!) in college. I know my husband wasted some major time because he changed his major in his Junior year of college. Maybe if he studied more about Finance (his first major) in high school, he would realize that thats not the direction he wanted to go into.

 

[wdw4us2]

Schools in South Florida are really bad- when I went to school (it was only 2 years ago) gangs were everywhere, and they were rated horribly (my school had a D grade- and I had straight A's.) I lived in a normal, suburban area but the schools were just horrible.

I think you should rephrase this to read SOME schools in South Florida are really bad. Last year, our county had the number one school district in the state and Martin County is considered South Florida. All of the schools are consistently A rated with the exception of schools in the migrant area of the county. Even those have improved to B schools. We also don't have the gang problems - thus far.

 

[Independent]

Ridiculous. As somebody stated, High School is all about finding your passion and exploring all sorts of options.

In fact, our school district is thinking about getting rid of class rank and valedictorian for the simple reason that the kids DON'T take lots of different electives to explore. That they focus on the weighted/ap classes and are way too focused on the hard college prep and ignoring the electives that give a person a well rounded background.

And here I thought Jeb was the "sane" one of the the bunch. (Sane being relative within that family.) Leave it to a Bush to come up with something so far out of touch with what studies continually show to be the best course of action - well rounded high schoolers are better college students and are more successful in their careers.

 

[hellokitty86]

I think you should rephrase this to read SOME schools in South Florida are really bad. Last year, our county had the number one school district in the state and Martin County is considered South Florida. All of the schools are consistently A rated with the exception of schools in the migrant area of the county. Even those have improved to B schools. We also don't have the gang problems - thus far.

Fine. In the county I was in- Broward/Dade- all the schools, except two that I can think of- WERE bad. (I'm talking about PUBLIC schools, not private.) Please realize, that I was talking about my specific area, the Miami/Ft.Lauderdale districts. I think you got the point I was trying to make- that South Florida needs a better situation for their students. We don't need to go tit-for-tat here. Sorry if I offended you- that wasn't the point of my post- but if you went down to Ft.Lauderdale/Miami you would agree with me. Something needs to change.

 

[BeNJeNWaFFLe]

Moreover, they had her take 3 separate career placement tests this year (8th grade) and recomended that she go into business. Well, she's interested in engineering and I told her to take the results of that test, shove it where the sun don't shine and do whatever she wants.

From one female engineer to a potential other, give her (and yourself) a big pat on the back! Who cares what results those tests give. I think those tests told me to be a botinist.

I feel bad for those kids starting high school with a plan like this in place. I don't know any kid that knows what they want to major in when they are that young. I wanted to be an interior designer when I was in 9th grade. I got me degree in computer science. So far off the other end of the spectrum. I spent my high school years taking all sorts of electives. I took interior design, fashion design, art, trial law, and a few computer courses. From those I realized that I wanted to go to college for engineering.

I agree with the other posters. Most college students don't even know what they want to major in. High school students shouldn't have to pick a track to follow. High school is all about taking a bunch of different electives and finding those that interest you. Even most colleges let the first two years of classes be for discovering your major. Most of my close friends have changed their majors at least once. At the age of 14 kids should not be expected to know what they want to be doing when they are 20, 25, 30, etc. It is just unreasonable.

 

[punkin]

From one female engineer to a potential other, give her (and yourself) a big pat on the back!

Why thank you. I think I will.

 

[Brianne]

Without having more information, I can't say anything other than I'm not real crazy about the idea so far. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up so how can I expect my kids to know at 14?

Someone mentioned clusters---now, if the program ends up being more like that, where there's a general, wide range of choices, I could see that being ok. But if they're expecting these kids to narrowly focus or get locked into their choice without the ability to change their minds later on (or in the very least have a huge difficulty in changing it anyway), I'll be vocally against it.

I was mildly surprised to hear about the 4 years of math requirement---I would rather see it stay at 3 years if they so choose but increase the physical education requirement instead.