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Responding to a state mandate to require every incoming high school freshman to choose a major, Broward School District officials want to offer a litany of broad subject areas for students enrolling in 2007.
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That's stupid. I didn't make a decision on what i wanted to be until i was a senior. And a friend of mine wound up switching majors three times while in college. You can't force a decision like that.
Posts: 177 | From: Orlando, Florida | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
I like the Broward plan better than the specific major plan proposed. High school should be a time where a student can pick their electives from a wide range of different subjects - won't locking them into a major severely limit their opportunities to try new things? As it is, most people change college majors at least once. Why try to lock students into one particular path even earlier?
I went to school in Florida and as it was I was shocked by the number of people trying to plan their children's college choices and careers while the kids were still in elementary school. Those people are probably overjoyed at this idea. Of course, their kids mostly turned out to be giant stressballs who changed majors multiple times if they didn't burn completely out...
Seems like Florida is always looking for a quick fix. Maybe if they'd just go back to basics instead of trying every experiment they can think of, students would be better off.
-------------------- This has been yet another... USELESS POST. Posts: 6105 | From: Mississippi | Registered: Sep 2001
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posted
We've had this discussion before. A student can pick a major, but they're not locked into it and no college will force them to use it. And the idea of getting a kid to think about using high school for their future instead of daycare is a positive goal. So they go through an auto mechanic program and decide they hate it. Great, isn't it better they did it BEFORE they shelled out the money after high school?
When I was in high school, all we ever focused on were cramming things into our skulls to impress colleges. If you wanted a career path, that was something you'd just have to plan on your own outside of your mandatory public education.
Astra, what are these basics you speak of and how does this plan go against them?
ETA: The original discussion. Not a chow, but a great starting point. I learned a lot about the program since June and think the potential is enough that it shouldn't be dismissed outright.
-------------------- "One original thought is worth a thousand mindless quotings." -- Diogenes
"Vote Republican! We won't burn you at the stake for your religious beliefs or slaughter your family and steal your land." -- Ramblin' Dave Posts: 3555 | From: Florida | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
Thanks for linking the original discussion, Rebochan. We went into a lot of detail there, and it's a good idea for people who are just hearing this for the first time to see that a lot has already been said.
Since the discussion has been picked up in this newer thread, I'd like to repost this outline of the program.
quote:Requirements of the Rigorous and Relevant High School Diploma
This diploma proposal combines relevance and rigor into one seamless goal for high schools students. Relevance: A student will major in an area in which he/she has a particular strength or interest. Rigor: Each student can choose the level of challenge they want to attain in their major area.
OVERALL CREDIT REQUIREMENTS CREDITS Core Courses 15 Major Area of Study 4 Elective or Minor Requirements 5 Total Credits for a High School Diploma 24
Core Courses- All Students 15 Credits English (Courses for level 1 and 2 students must focus on reading) 4 Math (All students must take and pass Algebra I and Geometry) 4 Science 3 Social Studies 3 PE and Arts (.5 credit each) 1
Major Areas of Study- Students Choose One 4 Credits (In addition to these areas, local school boards can submit other majors and minors to the State Board of Education for approval)
Humanities (Courses such as English, humanities, music, fine and/or performing arts) English (Courses in literature and writing) Communications (Courses such as journalism, debate, speech, mass media) Math (Math courses such as linear Algebra, abstract algebra, math analysis, analysis of functions, calculus, AICE further mathematics, multivariate calculus, differential equations, applied mathematics, geometry, analytic geometry, integrated math, advanced topics in mathematics, liberal arts math, probability and statistics, trigonometry, discrete mathematics, etc.) Science (Science courses such as biology, botany, anatomy and physiology, ecology, limnology, zoology, biotechnology, genetics, earth/space, astronomy, space technology/engineering, environmental, integrated, marine, scholar energy, nuclear radiation, Agriscience, physical, chemistry, physics, etc.) Advanced Math and Science History (History courses such as American, African American, Florida, Latin American, Eastern and Western Heritage, American through 1920, Vietnam War, World History, Civil War, etc. ) Social Studies (History courses such as American, African American, Florida, Latin American, Eastern and Western heritage, American through 1920, World, Civil War, etc. Also anthropology, archaeology, economics, geography, political science, comparative governments, sociology, psychology etc.) The Arts (Performing and fine arts) Foreign Language Career Specialization
Elective or Minor Requirements- Students’ Choice 5 Credits Students may (1) choose to concentrate three of these credits in one area to obtain a minor and have two additional credits in another area, (2) take five elective credits, or (3) earn a double major and take one elective.
Note: A student may change their major and can transfer the credits to be elective credits or may apply them toward a minor.
As you can see, the students have only one course per year to apply to their "major" (four credits total), they also must take all of the core curriculum, i.e. "the basics", and five credits of electives that do not have to apply to their major, i.e. "a well rounded curriculum."
I think this can achieve good things, if - and this is a very big if - the schools provide solid, instructive counseling to the students in every year of their schooling. The IB/AP/AICE programs know how to do this. Now they need to provide that level of service to every student.
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Basics as in making sure students are receiving quality education in English, math, and science before focusing on specialized electives and pushing students to make decisions that affect their curriculum in such a way.
I said I didn't have much of a problem with the Broward plan because I think most kids have a general idea of what they are interested in by high school, but trying to narrow it any further (and having so many of their elective choices dictated by it) seems unfair.
I would rather see a school offering a large number of core curriculum courses with smaller class sizes than hiring several teachers to teach very specialized electives.
I'm critical of the idea because I went to a specialized magnet school. There were a lot of experimental strategies going on there that sounded great on paper, but only benefitted a small number of students. Kids in a science track could take very specialized classes of 8-15 students, but English classes contained upward of 30 students. What good did having all those cool specialized classes do when only a handful of students were able to take them and the school couldn't afford to hire more teachers for subjects everyone had to take?
The idea of starting the college competition even earlier doesn't appeal to me either. What is the solution to students who want to take a particular career track that isn't offered at their school? Are students going to start attending particular high schools in hopes of looking better on their college applications?
I didn't think of high school as daycare and I wasn't forced to decide my career path at that time. I knew it would likely be something science-related, so I took more science and math than were required. Students can change a lot between middle school and graduating college - why create more problems by trying to classify them in one more way?
Seriously, unless a kid is dead-set on a particular profession, how is declaring majors really going to improve education in general?
-------------------- This has been yet another... USELESS POST. Posts: 6105 | From: Mississippi | Registered: Sep 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Astra: Seriously, unless a kid is dead-set on a particular profession, how is declaring majors really going to improve education in general?
Also, just based on my experience--
Almost all of the people I knew who were dead-set on a profession at the time they entered high school weren't really interested in the career field themselves; they had been programmed by their parents to think that they wanted to be a doctor, lawyer, etc. and this was the automatic answer they would give whenever someone asked what they wanted to be.
Posts: 918 | From: Southern CA | Registered: Jan 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Venus: That's stupid. I didn't make a decision on what i wanted to be until i was a senior. And a friend of mine wound up switching majors three times while in college. You can't force a decision like that.
I didn't even know what my career (air traffic control) was until I finished high school and joined the Air Force.
ETA: Edited for clarity
Posts: 918 | From: Southern CA | Registered: Jan 2004
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posted
But like I said earlier, wouldn't it be great to find out *before* you left high school that such and such a career wasn't for you? My sister spents two years and a lot of grief (and money) before she realized nursing wasn't working and now she's stuck looking for a new major. Wouldn't it have been great if she had pursued her nursing interest earlier and then moved on from there? And before it's brought up again, my sister was not "programmed" to be a nurse. She came up with the idea on her own.
I always felt like my high school education (which ended in 2002, for reference) was such a grab bag that all I cared about was passing classes and graduating so I could spend time figuring out what I *did* want out of my life.
Declaring a major gives a student a chance to actually think about what they're going to do. Even if they find out they hate it, they've still had the experience of exploring a field. As the plan above demonstrates, there's also the option of just focusing on an area of interest instead of a career. I wish I'd been able to do that on my trip through high school.
All of this is, of course, dependent on the program being run well. Because if it isn't, it's no better than what they did before.
-------------------- "One original thought is worth a thousand mindless quotings." -- Diogenes
"Vote Republican! We won't burn you at the stake for your religious beliefs or slaughter your family and steal your land." -- Ramblin' Dave Posts: 3555 | From: Florida | Registered: Feb 2002
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