Florida votes to require high school majors (AP/CNN)

[eppur_se_muova]

Friday, May 5, 2006; Posted: 9:36 a.m. EDT (13:36 GMT)

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (AP) -- The Florida Legislature gave final approval to a bill Thursday that requires high school students to declare a major, similar to college students.

The measure now goes to Governor Jeb Bush, who pushed the requirement as part of a sweeping education overhaul approved by the House 90-24. The Senate passed it earlier in the day 39-1.
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The bill also requires that high school students take a fourth year of math and that middle school students receive career planning instruction.
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"We're saying we're trying to get students to think more in terms of, 'What do I really like to do? What is my talent?"' said Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Evelyn Lynn, a Republican.

A major area of interest could include a traditional academic subject such as English, a foreign language or math, or a vocational field such as carpentry or auto repair.
***
more: http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/05/05/high.school.majors.ap/index.html

What'll it be ... Morlock or Eloi ?

[medeak]

1. crazy

even college freshman are urged not to declare a major. Isn't it about trying EVERYTHING to see what you like?

[saigon68]

34. I wonder if Crack Dealer will be one of the choices?

[Dudley_DUright]

2. Yet another giant step toward destroying public education in FL

This could be a good idea if done correctly, but the chances of that under Jeb and the GOP is less than zero.

[rodeodance]

3. this is a modified Euopean model -choose tech or college level.

[wordpix]

4. I teach high school students & no way do many of them know what they

want to do in life. I do think those who are not academically oriented or motivated should begin to learn a trade so at least they will be able to survive in society. However, they still need to work on basic reading, writing and math because they can't read the auto repair manuals, do carpentry or write out a work order without those skills.

[Writer]

9. Do you think that if the expectations were raised and...

high school students were encouraged more to explore an area of interest, that they would be more inclined to choose a major?

[laheina]

33. College students change their major, on average, three times

during their college careers, and they are in a place where they can explore different fields.

High school students should not be put in this position.

[Writer]

36. Wouldn't it be better for them to gain more direction in high school...

before they start spending thousands of dollars?

[Nikia]

38. But through electives, you might get a better idea

For example, I took accounting in high school as a sophomore. That course made me decide that I didn't want to be an accountant. If I would have had to major in something, I probably wouldn't have taken that class. Having to major in something, especially since many colleges want 4 years in the major subjects, limits the number of electives one can take.

[laheina]

40. There isn't enough breadth in the high school courses

to allow the students to decide their direction. That's my point.

And I think that this will only become *more* of the case as the secondary school budgets continue to get squeezed.

[LibDemAlways]

5. The average high school kid already knows

where his/her talents lie. Some are athletes. Some are into music. Some are artistic. Some are glued to a laptop. Some kick ass on a skateboard. Some write. Some just like to hang out with their friends. It's all good. Forcing a kid to declare an academic "major" in high school is a ridiculous idea that could only have come from the warped mind of a repuke. When did it cease to be ok for a kid to just enjoy being a kid?

[Bill McBlueState]

6. the problem I see

The problem I see is that if a kid declares a major, he or she is likely to start thinking all the other parts of the curriculum are unimportant. I hate how math-minded students go around thinking they don't need writing skills and how literary-minded students think they don't need to understand algebra.

And these ideas are perpetuated in most colleges, where the average physics professor can't write his way out of a paper bag and the average classics professor doesn't know what a vector is.

We need less specialization in academia, not more.

[geniph]

12. Very well put, Bill

I quite agree. Specialization to the degree these people want is for insects, not humans.

[taught_me_patience]

7. I didn't declare a major until I was a senior

in college! This is another example of Republicans destroying the educational system, and all of progressive society, bit by bit.

[geomon666]

8. I am not raising my child in this state.

This place sucks so freaking bad.

[Larissa238]

10. That's why we need to move to Canada.

[geniph]

11. Yup, let's shunt the less-advantaged kids off to trade school early

We've been here before. We've done this before. It's a way for the privileged to make sure "outsiders" stay outside where they belong.

Ugh. I really hate this. I'm 46 years old, and I still don't know what the hell I want to be if I grow up! How can we really take a 16-year-old and tell them, "now decide what you want to do for the rest of your life"? They don't even know how to pee straight yet.

[1monster]

14. The average high school starting age is fourteen.

[1monster]

13. So where does that leave my kid who is registered as an Arts student?

Let's please get the politicians OUT of our education system!!!!! They are killing it!!!!!

[grilled onions]

15. It Didn't Work In The Sixties

Kids who had talent in music or the arts,but failed miserably at science or history never stood a chance to get into the drama dept or the music dept. Girls who had no direction were pushed into that lovely "career" home ec where they were schooled on boiling water,hemming a skirt and how many spoons to use at a fancy dinner party. If you were not college material you were pretty much left on the line to dry and left with little help in which direction they wanted to go. Sadly 'Nam took many of them who tired of never getting to learn what they truly wanted to learn. Today as careers have to change as jobs go voerseas and technology alters skills needed it seems insane to have kids learn and re-learn several times before they even get out of college.

[eppur_se_muova]

18. "Today as careers have to change..." Yeah, that part bugs me too.

According to the gospel of the free marketeers, who swear that this is really the best thing that could happen to us, if we only understood it -- Gone are assured jobs for a lifetime! Gone is the single-skill career! Expect to change careers every few years -- the unfettered free market demands it! This according to Tom Friedman and other shills for "globalization", which REALLY means (even when they refuse to say it) "globalization of capital ONLY".

With the corporatists shoving all this down our throats, people end up having to change careers to survive -- but what's best for the bottom line of the corporations is an abundance of worker bees trained to do today's jobs, and too ignorant to know that they're expendable. Hence the drive to force kids into a specialization before they know what's going on. By the time they figure it out, too late ... they're "redudunancies", to use the British term. And too late to get that broader education that would have helped them adapt to the changed job market.

[jwirr]

25. Our Iowa schools were not like that - the problem in the 50 and

early 60s was not motivation and being shunted aside. It was lack of funds to go to college. Many of the students in my class and my siblings classes went the way you are describing because they had not hope of paying for college so they did not even aim for that goal. I know because until college loans became available in the late 60s I could not go even though I had very high academic grade levels.

[Orangepeel]

16. they already have magnet schools

for science and arts. I don't know how well the concepts works.

[Squatch]

17. I can see a positive side to this.

[bluestateguy]

19. This has advantages and disadvantages

On the one hand, students who are not so motivated about school might become more motivated if they could develop an academic field of concentration and take more specialized courses where they have interests and talents.

On the other hand, students at that age cannot reasonably be expected to know what they want to do in life. They should not be pushed to make these decisions right away, especially if it comes at the expense of a well-rounded education in the arts and sciences. I also fear that students who don't do well in school will be labeled as "blue-collar", and be forced to choose a major like auto shop or mechanics, at the expense of learning about math, science and the humanities.

[SoCalDem]

22. A good auto mechanic in thie day and age is not a bad thing to be

His job is unlikely to be outsourced, and our mechanic drives a brand new caddy:)

[karlrschneider]

27. My BIL has been a 'specialized' Mercedes mechanic for 25? years

or so, and makes a very good living. As much as or maybe more than I as a pilot. (But then I don't get a lot of grease under my nails) :D

[pokercat999]

32. lol most Mercedes mechanics don't either (get grease

under their nails). I've been in the "industry" for over 30 years. The most successful techs I knew had a saying 10 by 10 and you're having a good day. I asked what that meant, the answer. 10 hours of billed labor by 10 am was the start of a good day. They started at 8 AM so under their pay plan they could earn 10 hours of labor (at $25.00 an hour their pay) in 2 hours, that's $250.00 in the first two hours of work! They both made huge amounts of money and were very happy being "grease monkeys", thank you.

[SoCalDem]

20. My high school had a "three track" system waaay back in the 60's

We had :

Vo-tech track
Regular track
College prep

I cannot believe that schools do not STILL have this system..

NOT ALL KIDS CAN OR WILL GO TO COLLEGE..

High school SHOULD be something more than a place to parade around in your spiffy duds, hook up with pals, and

be a place to hang out for 6 hours a day.. It SHOULD be about "life-preparation"..

[Coventina]

21. This plan would have been a disaster for me

I would have picked drama. That's what I was "into" in High School. Well, I finally realized after a year in college that I can't act my way out of a bag.

So, in my early years of college I decided I was going to be a writer. But, I eventually realized that I am not talented in writing, either.

Discovering one's vocation is sometimes easy and sometimes hard. I was one of the hard ones.

So, under this wonderful Republican plan, I would have trained in high school for a career in theatre. Then, I would have been turned down by every theatre program in the country. What would have happened then? Depression, feelings of worthlessness. Probably wouldn't have gone to college at all.

[jwirr]

23. This idea sounds very similar to the European school

system (if still the same?) of routing students from the sixth year level to either college or non-college preparatory levels. Those who want and are capable of higher education take one track and those who do not want or cannot are routed to a vocational/apprentice track. I have always thought that would be fine as long as a student could gain higher education at any time in his/her life if they wanted to.

[erpowers]

24. Stupid Idea

This is a stupid idea. It does nothing to make kids think more or learn more. It just puts pressure on kids to specialize in something before the need to. I think the general education form of high school is much better.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

30. Exactly.

A lot of kids don't know what they want to major in until they've been in college for a couple of years.

[Occulus]

31. I was a very talented musician.

I SUCKED in math. Horribly. I just didn't have the mind for it back then. Now, as an adult, I'm becoming very curious about algebra, trig, and calc, just because I think I could hack it now.

I very simply can't imagine myself even trying to learn any of those, to any degree of competence, when I was in high school. Now that I'm away from music- which is where my true talents were- I'm thinking it might be a good idea to learn those subjects, just for the sake of learning and keeping my brain sharp.

That said, a dedicated high school music major would have been a godsend for me. I wouldn't have been expected to try to learn things I'd already demonstrated in earlier years I had no talent for whatever; I would have been able to devote another x time per day to music, and I would definitely have been better off for it.

I yearned for a music theory course in high school. I wanted a marching band that worked shows year-round. I wanted two musicals a year. And an orchestra. And teachers dedicated to our school available to the entire group(s)- you know, like the sports teams had.

But then, by the end of my freshman year/beginning of my sophomore year in high school, I knew I wanted to teach high school music. That didn't happen, and it was in some part due to the fact the the extended early programs- theory, orchestra, composition- were not available, period.

These things associated with a high school 'major' are not often available. But, who am I kidding? Music programs will never get an appreciable amount of money to work with, and it's a damn shame.

edit: errant italic.

[karlrschneider]

26. I guess I don't get the nuts & bolts of this...don't HS students still

have plenty of electives? Does this legislation change or limit those choices?...the piece doesn't really say, so I wonder how it quantitavely or qualitatively actually changes things...
:eyes:

[Sivafae]

28. I went to a magnet school for the Arts

it is kinda hard to explain how the school was set up. The school itself had 2 other programs housed in the school besides the art school. But the art students were more motivated as compared to students that just attended the school and not the other two programs. We've had a lot of successful students come out of the SOTA program.
But the reason I bring it up is that there was specialization. Of course, it later became a requirement that we had to take cross-discipline courses along side all the academic work that we had to do. Sure some of the kids went into their field of study, others however did not.
I think that this is a great idea, it has worked very well for the students who have gone through these programs. I think it gives them focus and garners their interest.

[Nikia]

29. I don't think it should be required, but could depend on specifics

At my school, we were required to have a "major" but it only meant taking 4 years of a subject, other than in English in which 4 years was already required. My school which was relatively small belonged to a set of schools which allowed juniors and seniors to take a half day of classes at a vocational high school in which they majored in something like building trades, medical careers, or culinary careers. This was completely optional but it did prepare students for those specific careers which some then went into. Others who completed the program went to college or trade school for further study in that field or something completely different.
I don't know the specifics of the major. Many 4 year colleges want students to take 4 years of all the core curriculm subjects (science, math, English, social science/history, foreign language). If the major requires many courses, it could be difficult for some students to complete major requirements and college entrance requirements. Changing majors could mess this up more.

[retread]

35. When discussing any of Jeb's education "reforms" keep in mind he

doesn't believe in free public education.

[Mika]

37. Just watch. They will tie this choice to in state ed costs & loans

Private school students will be exempted from having to make this choice.

These evil bastards just won't stop destroying ed in Florida.

[HockeyMom]

39. New York State Regents Diploma

Been there, done that 40 years ago. Yes, we had to declare a major, whether a Science, or a Foreign Language, or Business and Careers (anything from a Secretary to an LPN to a Mechanic), in addition to the 4 years of English, 4 years of Social Studies, 3 years of Math, etc., etc.

Sounds like Florida is just copying us. The bottom line is that with the academic FOUNDATION, you can always change your mind. My daughter went from being a Art Major in HS to being an Elementary Education Major in College. She could not have done this without the core academic subjects in HS.

I would not get so hung up on the word "major" without looking at the rest of the required academic curriculum. This article is very short on the specifics of the Florida program.