Posted on 08/28/2007 9:09:24 PM PDT by stainlessbanner
Every few years a new fad sweeps across the public schools. We've had self-esteem, new math, whole language, New Age, outcome-based education, school-to-work, mental health screening, school-based clinics, global education, diversity, multiculturalism, and early childhood education.
The newest public school fad was announced last week on the front page of the New York Times, so educators must be taking it seriously. If it hasn't come to your town yet, no doubt it will come soon.
Freshmen at Dwight Morrow High School in New Jersey, starting this fall, must declare a major, and they must take at least one course in that subject every trimester for four years. The major will be noted on their diploma.
How many kids between the ages of 14 and 18 do you think ever change their minds about what they like and don't like? Let's rephrase my question: do you know any teenagers who don't change their minds frequently?
Most teens have a hard time deciding what to wear, what to eat, and with whom they will go to the prom. Probably most students haven't even selected their lifetime career when they start college.
But at Dwight Morrow, those who change their minds are out of luck. If they find they don't like their original choice, they can't change unless they produce a "compelling reason," but even that may not be sufficient.
In preparation for this "choose major" plan, students were asked to write essays about what they wanted to specialize in. The most popular subject chosen was sports management.
The Times quoted a girl named Akelia who at 14 declared she wanted to be a lawyer, but after two years realized how much work she would have to put in studying "boring" cases, so she tried to switch to computers. Alas, she found she was locked into her major and not permitted to change.
Don't worry about students' difficulty in making a decision. They will be assisted by a school guidance counselor whose task is to map out a six-year career path that even includes the first year of college.
If a teen is a world-class genius like Michelangelo, it could be a good thing to get started developing his talent early. But most of us are not Michelangelos, and we can't count on the "choose major" experiment to produce modern Michelangelos.
Most teens are not ready to lock into a lifetime career so early; they need to explore and investigate options and opportunities. Anyway, there are magnet schools for those who are ready for specialization.
It is customary for educators to initiate their new fads in poorer schools where they feel they have a better chance to con parents and students into believing that they are getting the most modern improvements in education. The Dwight Morrow classrooms are ridiculously labeled Harvard, Yale and Rutgers.
Dwight Morrow is a high school with low test scores and racial tensions. Three-quarters are black or Hispanic, and 60 percent qualify for free or reduced lunches.
This "choose major" fad seems to have spread nationwide under the radar without prior publicity. Apparently some hundreds of high schools now require students to specialize, but most are not so rigid as to require a major.
Mississippi has a pilot program to have ninth graders choose one of seven career paths from construction to technology.
Like any new school fad, "choose major" of course requires more taxpayer funding. The New Jersey district has hired five new teachers, and set up advisory boards for each track that include performing artists, doctors, and lawyers.
Public schools should teach all first-graders to read by the time-tested phonics system, and teach all schoolchildren to know and use the fundamentals of arithmetic by the end of the third grade. This would end the shocking epidemic of illiteracy that now permits students to get into high school and even graduate without being able to read, write or calculate change at the grocery store.
Choosing a major won't solve the problem of high school dropouts who can't read, write, add, subtract, multiply, or divide. Public schools will remain a national embarrassment unless and until the fundamentals are taught in elementary classes.
People are up in arms about Chinese goods and the hazard they are posing. You’re right, anything else, and it wouldn’t stand a chance.
Instead, the fix that they’re been trying to do for all these years is throw more money at it and it’s proved to not work anyway.
I had a wrong-headed idea of what I wanted to major in when I went to college, and unfortunately I stuck with it and got my degree.
High school students should be encouraged to explore, not specialize.
Mrs VS
Actually, this is not a bad idea. It would be better if there were more choices of courses in grade school.
But it’s far too late for any of this to work. Public education is unable to clean its own house. The only real option is for people to stop using them.
I don’t think it’s all bad. Some kids know from a young age what they want to do with their lives, and allowing them to take courses that would prepare them for that is a good idea.
The problem I see here is that once the kids are in, they’re locked in and aren’t allowed to change unless they can provide some compelling reason. The main problem with that is if the school doesn’t want to be bothered with going through what it takes to help a kid change majors, then no reason, no matter how good in reality, will be compelling enough for them to admit it.
Considering most of the kids wanted to major in *sports management* shows how little they understand what’s involved in different careers and how weak their grasp on reality is.
Locking a kid in to something they hate for four years of high school is a waste of their time. Then it could become time for college and they won’t have any of the necessary courses needed to prepare them for their major. Like the girl in the article. Starting out as a lawyer and switching to computer science; she’ll be dead in the water in college because she won’t have ANY experience in that field and will be learning it all from scratch at the college level.
Now that I think about it, I don’t like the idea. The kids should really be exposed to many different areas to give them an idea of just what might interest them enough to pursue as a career choice in college. After all, that’s where you really get the education you need in your career field.
They have this sort of program at my local high school. They don't make the kids choose until sophomore year. Supposedly, by getting kids to think ahead to a career, they will see purpose to their high school learning and work harder and stay in school.
I doubt it will accomplish much.
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