<p>My daughter's school district is requiring 8th graders to declare a major before picking classes for 9th grade. Then the student is required to take classes within this major. Isn't this crazy? Do any other school districts do this? I can understand a general path to take, but not a major!</p>
<p>Do you live in Florida? I had heard they were looking into making that mandatory, but I don't know if it's in place or not.</p>
<p>And yes, for the record, I think that's unnecessarily constricting and contrary to what high school should be.</p>
<p>Oh ours started a program like that. Our H.S. has this as tracks in the high school. They at least changed some of it over the years. High track -all major classes must be honors/AP in a certain framework. DD1 year they were all supposed to take TYPING -as if they couldn't text/type faster than a speeding bullet cause they needed a tech class, to show the value of the tech section? Now Journalism is a "technical" class. DD2 did Honors Spanish two and three in grades 9, 10. She was dropped from the honors track for replacing honors spanish with AP Bio/lab.
I just looked online
SCHOOL FOR ADVANCED ACADEMIC STUDY “Concentration on studies at Honors and Advanced Placement Level”. SCHOOL FOR MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE “Concentration in Math and Science”. SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES “Concentration in English, Social Studies, World
Language and the Arts”. SCHOOL FOR ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY
AND PRACTICAL ARTS “Concentration on Practical Arts and mastery of
high technology systems and programs” track. In real life this is the old high track, two middle tracks and a low track.
My only guess is-besides effecting real estate-it was an attempt to force lower track kids to have a h.s. program that was solid and more academic than when they could take all the shop classes they could fit in around state regulated classes.
historically -Montclair NJ ( 60/40 white/black with very defined neighborhoods) was going to be in deeeeeep doo-doo over segregated classrooms and looking at forced busing. The made up this program of magnet schools which everyone bought into -oh, oh, MY child is gifted and talented, oh no MY child's a technical math genius etc. white kids were suddenly fighting to go to the black area of town (gifted magnet) black families were bussing kids up to the all white area (Reading/writing/math focus in everything, or the math/science one I think)
Bussing achieved without issues, everyone pretty happy. Great PR concept too. Real estate values jumped, written up all the time. Other schools try to do varients as well. Welcome to "it's not called a track anymore"</p>
<p>I live in Florida and wonder how this is going to work out. I'm glad my kids are out of the system. They both are going into math/science related fields, but I can't imagine how they would have been served to have NOT taken a good mix of humanities, english, and social sciences as well. Had they "specialized" in science, I can't imagine enough room in their schedules to take things like Latin, music, art, literature, history, etc. As it worked out, they had the best of both worlds and did it all, so to speak. There's plenty of time to "major" in something in college!</p>
<p>Here in Philadelphia, the School District is trying to move to a model of smaller high schools. They are opening three or four a year, and most of the new ones are theme-based: natural sciences, computer technology, politics and history, engineering & architecture, etc., in addition to some older specialized schools (music, performing arts, agricultural science, international relations, culinary science).</p>
<p>The effect, of course, is that a substantial number of kids in the Philadelphia public school system decide on their main area of interest in 8th grade, and may well wind up attending a school with somewhat-to-very limited course offerings outside that main area. (One consequence of the smaller, more intimate schools, is that they don't support a large faculty.) It's a tough call. For a lot of kids, these schools seem to do much better at holding their interest and keeping them on track, and both research and parental word-on-the-street suggests that the schools work. On the other hand, that kind of narrowing decision in 8th grade just can't be a good thing.</p>
<p>Our school district gives lip service to choosing a path but in reality there is one elective a year for freshman and sophomores. None if you take band, orchestra, yearbook or choir. No testing out of any of the required computer classes, no getting out of gym or health by taking a summer class. The whole selection thing is a big joke.</p>
<p>HS major? I never heard of such a thing.</p>
<p>It sounds a bit similar to the French system in which students were tracked in 6th grade (things have changed since my days, with the introduction of middle school): math; lab sciences; classics. All students were expected to take all subjects (not Latin for math and lab sciences majors, however): a foreign language beginning in 6th grade and another one beginning in 8th grade; math; every lab science for the next six years (chemistry, biology, physics, with one year of geology replacing biology in 7th grade); history; French literature. Plus Latin for classics majors, with the optional addition of Greek in 8th grade. The exact amount of each subject and therefore number of hours per week depended on the track. It was possible to combine some of the tracks. Some students, for example, did both Latin and the math track.
A similar system remains in place, with the tracks having been renamed (literature and languages; economics and social sciences; math and sciences), but beginning in 8th grade. We also had PE once a week before classes. No music or arts, however. My nieces who've gone through the new system (social sciences and economics track) all ended up being exposed to some calculus, though not as much as the students in the math/science track.</p>
<p>marite, you can't be describing a system that applies to all French schoolchildren! I just finished Kiffe Kiffe Demain last weekend, and there was no trace of any of that in the descriptions of the main character's high school. Also, she was involuntarily slotted into a trade school in what would be 10th or 11th grade. No Latin or multiple lab sciences in evidence anywhere.</p>
<p>Yes, this is in Florida. My daughter thinks that it is ridiculous. It is very specific, like math, carpentry, marine biologist, interior design, etc. And you can no longer fit in electives outside of the box. I don't know what happens if they change their mind. If you were on a college bound track it would probably not matter. But if you pick something like carpentry or interior design it would be harder to catch up and take the right college prep classes. They also made ap spanish for seniors only. And you need to take spanish V first. My daughter is in ap spanish as a junior. Just thought I would see what you guys thought.</p>
<p>Candace, I wonder what the reason is for requiring five levels of Spanish before AP Spanish. I have a suspicion- there are huge numbers of Spanish speaking students in Florida, many who can easily ace AP Spanish without any preliminaries. Maybe they're trying to cut out people from doing this?</p>
<p>What a mind-bogglingly stupid idea. My sympathies.</p>
<p>There are separate Spanish classes for Spanish speaking students.</p>
<p>JHS:</p>
<p>No, I'm not describing all students. At 10th grade, students are given a test. Depending on how they perform, they continue on the tracks I've outlined or they go into a vocational track. Of course, we should bear in mind the graduation rate in France (passing the bac). But then, I've just read that the graduation rate in Boston is also pretty low.</p>
<p>The point I was trying to make is that choosing a track as early as 6th grade is not unheard of. </p>
<p>As for Latin, enrolments declined precipitously after the classics track was abolished and one year of Latin was made compulsory. Since learning declensions and conjugations is the most boring part of it, students have bailed out in droves after that first year.</p>
<p>Our school, also in FL, tried to get a "jumpstart" on this brilliant <em>sarcasm</em> idea and we had "academies" this year. For us, we were allowed to replace basically anything with AP classes. After some discussions with my principal, that is the impression I get: AP's go over classes within your major/academy. But, it's bad for students who aren't in all AP's like I am. I think it's very confining, especially for students (like me) who are interested in everything (math, history, science, music, art, etc.), we want to try things we want to, not just what is in our major. I know some students need this sort of direction and help, but that is what a guidance counselor is for, we shouldn't force everyone in a state to abide by the same box. I mean, come on, I'm a self-driven, goal-oriented person and I never dreamed when I was in 8th grade that I would be interested in politics/government and math. In 8th grade I wanted to be a fashion and interior designer, and look how much that has changed. High school should be about finding something you are passionate about and pursuing it, not expecting 13/14 yr olds to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives. This could also lead to parents trying (moreso) to determine what their kids should do, instead of letting their natural abilities and interests lead them to a career/college/major.</p>
<p>I wonder what happened to schools where students could explore their interests without limit. Guess that died with the cell phone backpack.</p>
<p>It's ridiculous. Many colleges don't require you select a major in the first two years.</p>
<p>You get the choice of drugs, alcohol, or sex.</p>
<p>Double and triple majors are popular. ;)</p>
<p>Entering 9th grade, kids in my son's MG program -- about 1/3 of his class -- had to choose between an integrated English/History course, and a special Science course with research opportunities. Although his high school is huge and offers a wide variety of courses and opportunities, that choice did dictate a lot for the kids. Even though my son has taken tons of science courses, including Biochemistry and Physics CE AP, he has always considered himself separate from the "Research" kids. His 9th Grade History teacher has definitely been his most important mentor/champion throughout high school, and the kids in that class his closest friends.</p>
<p>I'm not so certain how different this is from what candace is describing. The whole "major" idea sounds nuts, and I would be opposing it as a parent. But I think something like that often happens anyway around 9th grade, and as long as there's some flexibility in the system it doesn't have to be a disaster.</p>
<p>Also -- and here's where I'm going to get into problems -- I think for lots of kids the traditional approach leaves them very cold, and does not let them go into depth on anything. Very successful kids can be successful at almost everything, and learn a lot, but kids who struggle get turned off. If there's a focus, and the kid likes that focus, and the courses are structured so that they play into the focus, then it may be more meaningful. And it may help more kids find out what "depth" means in at least one area, which would be a good thing.</p>
<p>Declaring a major in high school is ridiculous. In addition, most colleges have requirements ACROSS all academic areas that they wish students to fulfill. Heavens...my daughter is in college and she doesn't have to declare a major for another year and a half. AND keep in mind also, that most adults change careers at least four times in their lifetimes. I can't believe a high school would make that kind of requirement.</p>