Fla. Votes to Make (High School) Students Declare Major

[elehhhhna]

Fla. Votes to Make Students Declare Major
By BILL KACZOR Associated Press Writer

(AP) - TALLAHASSEE, Fla.-The 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 Gov. 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.

"It's important because it'll make the high school experience more relevant for a broader range of students," Bush said. "This will give them a chance to pursue education where their interests lie. ... There still will be core curricula credits that they'll need to pass."

The bill also requires that high school students take a fourth year of math and that middle school students receive career planning instruction.

http://news.findlaw.com/ap/o/632/05-05-2006/3c38000cc37ac01c.html

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. Because we all know school isn't about learning, it's about job prep.

Yep, it's all about indoctrinating our youth into the work regimen that they will have for the rest of their lives, and making sure they are kept just dumb enough that they don't rock the boat or day dream of a better life, but smart enough to get their work done.

[Jim__]

5. Exactly!

If by 13 years old, you don't know what you want to do for the rest of your life, then you don't need no stinkin' education. Drop out!

[Katherine Brengle]

8. Um, it IS about "job prep" -- it always has been.

Would you rather just not prepare our kids for their working lives??

[TahitiNut]

20. I'd much rather "prepare our kids" to be voters, drivers, parents, ...

... and thinking adults first. It's insanity to believe that a person's life-long career should be based on the decision of a 14-year-old. We already have far too many adults living lives based on the decision of a teen-ager.

Why should an adult life be guided by someone who hasn't even reached the age of consent? Whatever happened to the notion of "informed consent"?

The untilitarian ethic of schooling for some predetermined 'need' is why slaves weren't taught to read and write (not needed to pick cotton?) and why women were denied full or advanced educations (not needed by people who didn't have the vote).

[wavesofeuphoria]

13. exactly!!

This week the report comes out that the younger generation doesn't know geography .. ie where Iraq is for example. Well gee .. what job requires that??? If you have a job that requires you to know that .. then you'll learn it. Otherwise .. what's the big deal??? (said sarcastically) I forever will fault the decline in our democracy to be the move from school as education to school as job preparation.

On another note .. declaring a major in highschool??? So are we back to tracking students again? Why do they want to force such a decision so early? And who do you think will be making that decision for the child? Hell .. my kindergartener better decide on his major now ...

[jpgray]

2. Great--another superficial, meaningless "solution"

Just like MN's less-than-useless graduation standards. I'm so-o-o-o glad I made that "senior portfolio" now, boy!

[northzax]

3. career planning in middle school?

interesting idea. although they will fuck it up, I'm sure. but if it is intended to continue the idea of career day, to expose more kids to more professions, then it can be a good thing. Gives them something to motivate themselves in high school. "well, you probably can't play in the NBA, but if you got a law degree, you could be an agent, but to do that, you gotta work hard in high school' type stuff.

[elehhhhna]

16. all the fourth graders i know want to be: singers, actors. pro-sports

players, etc. Mine wants to be a writer/gerbil breeder (!).

[northzax]

18. well middle school is what, 7-8th grade?

that's a little more mature, I figure.

Gerbil Breeder sounds like a great job, don't they pretty much breed themselves?

[elehhhhna]

21. Yes. Best part: She doesn't even have a gerbil , yet!

[northzax]

22. perhaps you can help her out

with like an internship or something?

[Katherine Brengle]

4. On its face, I think it sounds like a good idea.

Of course, how it is carried out will be everything, but I honestly think a lot of the problems kids have in high school stem from being disinterested in the subject matter, feeling like what you are learning is irrelevant--it's poison to a teenager.

[LisaL]

7. I think it's a stupid idea. I had no idea what I wanted to do when

I was in high school.

[Katherine Brengle]

11. I think if it engages the students to actually learn something, it's worth

a try. Maybe they won't end up doing what they study, but they will learn, because they will care.

[Buns_of_Fire]

28. Hey, I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do in high school...

I wanted to survive the day without getting the crap knocked out of me.

Since then, at various times, I've wanted-to-be or have-been:

1. An actor
2. A director
3. A producer
4. A Data Processing (MIS) Maven
5. An entrepreneur (four times, three of which were at least semi-successful)
6. A professional football player
7. A fiction writer
8. A non-fiction writer
9. A lawyer
10. A doctor
11. A business consultant
12. A ditch-digger (for The Phone Company)
13. The owner of a B&B in Vermont (my Bob Newhart days)
14. A congresscritter (yeah, really!)
15. A kept man/gigolo (I decided pretty quickly that there wouldn't be all that much money in that particular profession for me)
16. A wizard
17. An FBI agent
18. A coin-telephone collector (AKA a "nickle-picker") for The Phone Company
19. A detective
20. A judge
21. A bookkeeper
22. A comedian
23. Rich

...and now I'm back to simply trying to survive the day without getting the crap knocked out of me.

There were people in junior-high and high school who knew exactly what they wanted to do with the rest of their lives. For those mature enough to recognize it, this could work (in theory, anyway, but I've no doubt it'll turn out to be a royal FUBAR in the current hands). For people like me who still don't know what they want to do when they grow up, they'll just pick the least painful of the alternatives and wind up being (like me) a Jerk-of-all-Trades. :shrug:

[Dudley_DUright]

14. Never underestimate the ability of a Bush (and the GOP in general)

to take even a good idea and foul it up royally.

[DUHandle]

6. Does Florida still leave principals and students

the option of either getting whacked with a stick or serving detention?

[LiberalVoice]

12. They did in Tennessee...

At least when I went to school there. I saw plenty of kids get their asses beat by the principal in his office.

[DUHandle]

15. My nephews are in Florida

and one of them chose the getting whacked option for being a jerk since he is a jerk.

I was appalled to hear that and if it's still a policy that puts all of Jeb's "reforms" in a different light.

[MadHound]

9. What fucking happy horseshit is this?

Geez, can't we allow kids to be kids anymore? Hell, what high school freshman knows coming in what they want to do with the rest of their life? Isn't that part of what high school is about, exploring options? Most college students I've known switch their majors at least once if not more. And no university requires, by law or by their own reg, for a first year student to declare a major. So now Florida is going to hold high school students to a higher standard than higher education. Geez:eyes:

[AzDar]

10. Depending upon how it's administrated (doubtful because it's Florida)

this COULD be a good thing.
Something tells me Neil has the accompanying software, though...

[enlightenment]

23. I agree -- it's not necessarily a bad idea.

It does depend on how it is implemented. I'm all for education for education's sake, but I'm not opposed to a program that provides some realistic options. Currently, our education system is 'one-size-fits-all' and doesn't really fit anyone. Perhaps a more focused approach will improve the quality of education for everyone.

I teach at a 2-year college (and occasionally at university); every year, an increasing number of students are entering college lacking the ability to analyze and think critically. They can't write - some, I suspect, cannot read beyond the 8th grade level. I'm not trying to paint with a broad brush; many students are very prepared for college -- it's just that the percentages are shifting quickly.

I don't disagree with the notion that a college degree should be an available and achievable goal for all students, but I do disagree that all students are college material. Our education system is so generic that it fails to recognize individual differences (unless that difference creates disruption to the generic day-to-day operation of the school).

There is potential in this idea, if it is handled correctly. Unfortunately, the people in charge pretty much assure that it will be completely bollixed up in very short order.

[elehhhhna]

17. Remember vocational high schools? those made sense.

[TNDemo]

19. We had to declare majors in the early 1970s when I went.

But it seems like everyone I know now says they didn't have to.

[bullimiami]

24. what sounds good at first glance has to be looked over carefully

bush and the florida leg are not to be trusted.
the first question to ask is who is benefitting from this.

[immoderate]

25. This could be done right or wrong.

Certainly there is nothing wrong with anyone getting four years of English, Math, Social Studies, Science. Much neglected is emphasis on manual arts. The opportunity to create projects which require measurement, manual skills, working materials is important for brain development.

When I taught middle school, they introduced a course called Career Skills. I thought it was a good idea because there was useful information that didn't get covered anywhere else. Unfortunately, I was one who was designated to teach it, without any workshops or other instruction, I felt I couldn't do it justice. We were handed a fat binder, and left on our own. These things require planning and support.

--IMM

[Bake]

26. We had majors when I was in high school in TN - 35+ yrs ago

I majored in science and math; minored in Spanish and somehting else I can't remember at this point (I'm over 49 now...).

Frankly, I thought it was a good thing then, and I think it's a good thing now. It didn't mean I was locked into a career choice; it just meant that I got enough science and math to be prepared for whatever came later.

Bake

[Horse with no Name]

27. Let's see

In High School I wanted to be a Supreme Court Justice. I had to leave the room when they dissected stuff (had a 100 yr old teacher in Biology that made us dissect anything she could catch;) ).
I feel sorry for my lab partner.
I passed out when I watched them operate on one of our horses.
So...when I grew up, I became a Trauma Nurse.
Good thing I waited until I grew up to make that decision because it would have been the last thing I would have ever chosen.
I mean truly, who wants to grow up and be a garbage man or a proctologist?
And what 13 year old kid is going to say he does?
While allowing thought for what you might want to be at this age can help shape a better idea of what a kid wants to do, it also fosters a sense of elitism. The smart kid is going to want to be a Doctor or a Lawyer, however, if one of the "dumb" kids says that it will lead him to be ridiculed and having to justify his dreams to a bunch of taunting kids.
It is just another measure designed to "put people in their places" and smacks entirely of elitism and classism.