MAJORS in High School???

[shortbun]

DD13 is in a Performing Arts public school and all of the kids have a Major in their art (ex: dance, strings, band, etc...). The school is from 6th thru 12th grade so it encompasses middle and high school.

Our Performing Arts schools do this too. We have separate MS and HS but they both have declared major and minor focus.

 

[1Prince2Princesses]

You mean like a vocational high school? Or a regular high school? I went to a vocational h.s. and majored in business.

This is regular high school. We do have a vo-tech school in the area, but this is something they're implementing in ALL the schools.

 

[meandtheguys2]

I think that giving the opportunity for specialized electives is a nice idea, as long as it iw within a well-rounded program. I would have liked that in school. I think that "major" is a bad choice of words, though, because to parents this sounds like a college major.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

We also still have the standard graduation requirements.... 4 English, 3 Math, 3 History, 3 Science, 1/2 PE, 1/2 Health... so the other stuff is in addition to the basics.

Our Texas requirements are 1 & 1/2 PE, 1/2 Health, 1 Tech Applications, 1/2 Communications, 1 Fine Art plus the reg. stuff & electives for a total of 26 credits.

How many credits for Florida?

Oh and thanks jaycns for the link.

 

[KelNottAt]

My husband said his high school did this in MD, but here in Florida I think this is new.

I'm another Marylander who's never heard of this. But, then again, I graduated in 1982. OMG! That was 25 years ago. (Montgomery County schools.) My DS14 is currently a Maryland high schooler (Carroll County) and his school system doesn't have majors, either. I don't mention this to undermine your DH's credibility, I'm just surprised that it's occurring right under my nose and I've never heard of it.

Slightly OT...My DS just finished the poetry unit in English class. Check out the haiku he wrote:

PLANNING
Why do they want me
To know my career choice now?
I'm only 14​

 

[MI mom of 3]

I remember when my DS was in 8th grade they gave him an assessment test of sorts that "predicted' what job he would most likely fit as an adult. Then the HS used this to plot his high school career. They pegged him as needed to follow a route that was non-college prep specifically a work/study program. We changed that pretty quick back to a general college prep plan. Good grief! 8th grade?? His high hopes at the time was aspiring to work at the local video store and to play Nintendo. He didn't see anything beyond that nor were we going to push him! How in the world could kids possibly know what they want to be when they grow up in 8th grade? We're putting too much pressure on kids at younger and younger ages. Let them be...let them explore ALL the avenues out there and don't pigeon hole them at such an early age!

I understand that you have to work very hard to get into the better colleges, trade schools, etc. but they're not going to turn into scum of the earth if they don't have a profession picked out by the time they hit high school!!

My older son did that last year. They call them EDPs or Educational Development Plans. My son took the test, like yours he has no idea what he wants to do yet and answered everything that sounded the easiest. He got his results back...said he should be a model or a dancer!!?? Are you kidding me? I have a hard enough time convincing him that academics are important and they come along and basically tell him that his career requires no schooling!! I was livid!!

Now my younger DS took his this year. He has known since he was 4 that he wants to be a Vet. He answered the questions with that in mind and surprise...his came back that he should be a horse trainer or Vet.

These things only work with the information the kid plugs in, therefore highly subjective

 

[mickeysgal]

PLANNING
Why do they want me
To know my career choice now?
I'm only 14​

Excellent!! Clear, simple perspective. I love it!

 

[p2oh]

Here in KY they are called magnet schools. I went to a magnet middle and high school. Not all schools have the program but some do. I did Communitcations in grades 6-12. My high school also had an MST (Math Science and Technology) VA (Visual Arts) HSU (High School Universtiy) and YPAS (Youth Performing Arts School). I loved it. It was hard to get in, you had interviews and portfolios, a lot like college, but it was a public school. There is also a waiting list every year. I will say that the majority of people I went to school with ended up majoring in their magnet in college.

 

[ReggieB]

To get the European perspective, at least the UK one from many years back!! At 13 I had to pick subjects, that was all that was taught to us. I picked Math (compulsory), English Lang (compulsory), English Lit, French, Chemistry, History, Geography and Art. You did those subjects until 16, which is the age you can leave school at. You took exams in each subject. If you wished to go onto college you had to do a further two years of schooling, were you usually picked 3 or 4 subjects (I picked, Art English and Business Studies) Again you had exams, your grades in these , and also your grades form the previous exams were taken into consideration when applying to colleges at 18 years old. If you had no Science subject, there was no way they were going to let you do a Biology Major degree. With degrees, again you were expected to pick a subject on application (I picked Law) All the way you were being asked to narrow down your choice.

I completely agree with the idea that how on earth do you know what you want to do when you finally leave school, and plan your subjects accordingly. One of the worse things was that sometimes you had no choice in one of your subjects as that was the only thing that didn't clash (class time wise) with the rest of your picks. It did vary from county to county, even school to school. My first High School had a much broader approach. I was not a happy camper when my Mum moved, as I would have a much better range of qualifications if I had stayed at the first school.

I know it has changed, some college degrees are now more flexible and more in the US modular model. Schools though still expect you to pick examination subjects.

 

[JimB.]

This is the first year for this in Florida. My Son's HS guidance counselor thinks (& us too) it's the dumbest idea since the Edsel.

It's an example (IMHO) of the state legislature passing crap legislation to avoid tough issues while being able to say "lookee at what WE did !!!!".

I didn't settle on the major I graduated with until the middle of my junior year of COLLEGE!

And they want my kid to make a career choice now?? What a bunch of ca-ca.

Is my opinion clear on this???

 

[SandraVB79]

Here in Belgium, we somehow have that system.
Elementary school (6-12 year olds) is the same for everyone (or, it has a basic study program that is the same for every school, and the schools themselves can then make the choice whether they want to be an easy school and stick to the basic stuff or whether they want to be a difficult school and add extras to their program. This continues all the way through high school)
In High school (12-18 year olds) there is a basic basic program, lol. everyone has the same stuff for a large part of the 32 hours of class each week.
This results more or less into the following (depends a lot on which grade also) for the 4th year of high school (we have 6 years):
- 2 hours of religion (usually catholic) or some non-religious religion course (no idea what it is, I always went to catholic schools)
- 3 hours of math
- 3 hours of dutch
- 3 hours of French
- 2 hours of history
- 1 hour of geography
- 1 hour of chemistry
- 1 hour of biology
- 1 hour of physics
- 2 hours of physical education
- 2 hours of English

Depending on what options you choose, other classes or additional hours are added, like Latin, Ancient Greek, Maths, modern languages, science, economics, ...

Possible combinations are:
Latin-Greek
Latin-Maths (6 or 8 hours maths)
Latin-Sciences
Greek-Maths (6 or 8 hours maths)
Greek-Sciences
Modern languages-economics
Modern languages-sciences (this is what I did)
Modern languages-Maths (6 or 8 hours maths)
etc etc etc


I think this is a good system. This way, everyone got a broad general knowledge about everything, and depending on your interests and capabilities, you chose extra hours that fitted best with your personality.

 

[Wonderlandmom]

I didn't settle on the major I graduated with until the middle of my junior year of COLLEGE!

And they want my kid to make a career choice now?? What a bunch of ca-ca.

Is my opinion clear on this???

This has nothing to do with what your child will major in college. Colleges will not even look at this.

Seriously, it is nothing to get worked up about. DS's High School counselors said "major" was a poor choice of words that they picked. It is just electives and not that different than what they do now. Most kids take electives based on their interests anyway.

 

[mickeysgal]

DS's High School counselors said "major" was a poor choice of words that they picked.

I can see what you're trying to say. I think, however, some schools take it a bit too far and use assessment tests in 8th grade to plot out course direction that can be way, way off. In our case, they wanted to put DS in an alternative work/study program right off the start. College prep or even general track high school classes weren't even on the map with these counselers. They plotted his high school years based on this test. Now, a few years later, his interests have changed (no surprise there) and he no longer is leaning toward the very things that the test originally indicated. I really think he was just messing with the test - just filling out anything just to fill it out. Now he's on track for a full college prep curriculum. What a mess he would be in if we had followed that advice!

 

[froglady]

It sounds a lot like the "tracking" that was done when I was in HS/JRHS back in the stone age.

There were two accelerated tracks- Math/Science and Liberal Arts. Then there were two college prep tracks, a couple of business/secretarial type tracks, and votech.(construction, drafting, mechanics,cooking, etc) There was even a small agricultural course. So in a sense, we were declaring "majors" in that you would not have the requirements for college admission if you didn't choose those tracks.

Drama, Chorus, dance, etc were electives and after school activities.

The public schools in our county have academic and arts magnet schools. I think this may be an effort to offer more choices to those who don't fit into either of those groups.

DS is in a private college prep school, so I don't really know that much about what goes on in public school. I just pay my school taxes every year along with tuition and hope for the best.

 

[Wonderlandmom]

It actually begins for freshman entering HS 2007-2008. DS does not have to do this, but DD will.

I copied this from the site:

Out of eight elective credits, students will choose a Major Area of Interest that includes four credits in a common area, such as sequential courses in a career and technical program, fine and performing arts, or an academic content area, as part of the student's education plan.

http://fldoe.org/APlusPlus/pdf/MAJORSAplusplusQA.pdf

So I guess if you are in band or chorus for 4 years, that is your major??

IB and AICE students are exempt from this.

I know DD(6th grade) will have to do some "career and education planning" in 7th or 8th grade. It was suppose to be a semester class, but they are integrating it into the electives (at least at her school). I think they will spend a few hours doing this program on computers throughout the years. Someone told me it was only about 2 weeks worth of work. ?? I do think this is stupid myself.