How many 14 year old kids know what they want to be when they grow up?

[liberal N proud]

Many kids graduate High School with out know what they ultimately are going to do with their life. Even if they think they know, many will change their minds by the time they get through college.
Now the trend is that we must force them into a career path before they even know their own talents. It just does not make any sense.

Florida votes to require high school majors

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.

"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."

http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/05/05/high.school.majors.ap/index.html

I am not doing anything near what I thought I wanted to do when I was a Freshman in High School. I am barely working in a field that relates to what I wanted to do as a Freshman in College.

I think this is a mid directed attempt at keeping kids in school. In many cases the parents will be the ones selecting what the kids will be doing when they grow up and if that parent hasn't figured out what their child's talents are it will cause more problems than it intends to fix.

[rucky]

1. This is stupid.

The ones that are on a track that early are self-motivated and don't need this. The ones that aren't can be motivated as well, but this won't do it.

[LisaL]

2. I sure as hell didn't know what I wanted to do at 14.

That's why I don't think it's a good idea.

[OneBlueSky]

3. hell, how many 20-year-olds know? . . . n/t

.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. In Booshworld, they should simply want to be alive. n/t

[dipsydoodle]

8. Correct

14 years old just need to get to be 15 sometime, then 16.......

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. It's a way of getting the masses out of academic content courses,

where they may learn something that might make them anti-Republican (history, science, etc.) and into full-time vocational study.

[Finder]

6. I think it is a good idea. We had to choose...

a course of study back in hs, in the 70s. There were general majors and/or courses of study though--Business, College, Basic. Each course of study had sub majors or focuses like retail, economics, secretarial, computer science under the Business course; Legal, medical, education, history, etc. under the College course, and under Basic there was automotive, home economics, and a variety of trade focused courses.

Under the Business courses and the Basic courses, many students did paid internships at local businesses.

[misternormal]

7. Some kids know... Most don't...

... There was one kid in my freshman class that knew she wanted to be a doctor... Why you might ask did she know?

Her father was a doctor. Every kid should have a chance to try and learn different things in high school. I think that forcing a child to pick a major in a public high school would increase the failure rate, and cost more in the long run. If private schools want to do that fine, but not a school that is run on tax money.

[napi21]

9. From the little I heard about it yesterday, I think it's a good idea.

I've always thought it was a big mistake to insist that ALL students take college courses. Many KNOW very young in their lives, that they don't want to go to College! As I understand it, they also plan on incorporating some trade school training. That's a GOOD idea! I know most of us are suspect just because Jeb likes the plan, but, maybe this is another "even an unwound clock is right twice a day" moment.

[mcar]

10. My 19 YO college freshman doesn't have a major yet

This is just another ridiculous attempt of Jeb's and the Repuke legislature here in Flori-duh to further weaken public education.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

11. I haven't read the legislation

but everyone at work is all abuzz about it. It really doesn't seem too different than when I went to high school. You were either college prep or business or trade. My high school had wood shop, metal shop, auto shop, etc. If you decided to go to college after going through the other tracks you just had to go to a community college and pick up some prerequisites. Most of the graduates in business and trade went on to jobs right out of high school. But this was 40 years ago in the industrial northeast.

[DeepModem Mom]

12. Liberal education teaches kids to think for themselves. This idea stinks.

n/t

[Retired AF Dem]

13. I turn 51 in August

and I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up. :)

[Odin2005]

14. Many European countries do something like this.

[Nikia]

15. I think that it should be optional, not required

There was a vocational option at my high school. Since we were a small school, our school and others went to a vocational center for half a day when they were juniors and seniors to major in something vocational like building trades or medical careers. The students that didn't do this could take college prep classes or whatever classes that they wanted. My fear with this is that some students will have a hard time fullfilling college admissions requirements and majoring in a particuliar subject and taking classes that they might want to take for fun like music or art, but not major in.