<p>I have a worse tale, at least according to one mom who told me this. In Livingston NJ h.s. the kid's admission into the track is determined by testing in 8th grade. Her son was able to take Physics but not AP physics - wrong track. Teacher did try to get him in and they did let him TUTOR the AP kids.</p>
<p>I agree that this practice is absurd. An 8th grader can't possibly know yet what they want to do for a career and high school should be a time to find out more about what interests them. I am a senior in a math/science magnet school and I originally came because I really wanted to be a biologist or an environmental scientist. The natural world has always fascinated me and it still does. However, after a few very hard-core advanced math and science courses (I got my butt kicked in Bio, Physics and BC calc, for example), I started to realize that I am not really a scientific thinker. I started to drift more toward history and languages, interests that I had also always had, but that I had put on the back burners when I started high school. I have made the most of my high school experience and I have still gotten a lot out of the students and curriculum at my school. That said, there is an increasing focus at my school to weed out the humanities people and focus instead on more of the hard sciences. I always think back to my decision as an 8th grader and how much my ambitions and interests have shifted since then. </p>
<p>I can't imagine a school trying to force 8th graders to pick their definite paths through high school and regulate what classes they take based on this choice. Had I been thus restricted, I would never have had the chance to participate in some of my most life-changing classes. HS should be about exploring rather than finding that definite path. I wish more admins would remember that.</p>
<p>I agree that this is a totally ridiculous idea!!!</p>
<p>My D who is a h.s. senior has changed her mind hundreds (yes, hundreds) of times about what she wants to major in college over the past 4 years, running the gamut from being a pediatrician to being an FBI profiler to business management, etc., etc. Since she started filling out applications for colleges last fall, she has also changed her mind tons of time. She is going in "undeclared" though right now she is saying she wants to major in psychology (I guess our family could use one! LOL). I'm sure next week it will be something else.</p>
<p>OTOH, D#2 has always wanted to be a lawyer since middle school - though she has a tough courseload, she's sticking with it. (I guess it's always good to have a lawyer in the family too!)</p>
<p>Mind-bogglingly stupid, as a previous poster said.</p>
<p>How do you explain to colleges that you didn't take the required classes in math & science b/c you majored in "interior design?" </p>
<p>No way can a young kid decide on a major. Plus, the way our world is changing so rapidly, a major decided upon in 8th grade is likely to not even be there in 5 years! Let alone a college major.</p>
<p>Dumb, dumb, dumb!</p>
<p>Back in 1960 (!!), I had to choose between the "academic," "commercial," or "vocational-technical" stream in high school. Naturally I chose "commercial" because I already knew how to type and I could glide through without bothering to go to school (at 13, my social life was more fun -- duh).
Many years later, when I thought more education would be fun, I realized I didn't have any of the prerequisites for even the least of colleges. Happy ending for me -- I found a dean who let me in provisionally, then with full student status after I aced a couple of courses. Life is good.
My point being -- most of us at 13/14 are pretty clueless and driven by forces unrelated to intellect.</p>
<p>In my area, they start drilling this stuff into childrens heads in elementary school. They even have career guidance counselors who meet with the students and help them decide what good careers are. Three years ago, when my oldest daughter was in 5th grade, she was told by this nit-wit that she needed to decide on a career early so that she could start studying for it now. My daughter decided on being a Vet and was told that was unrealistic. What is unrealistic for a 5th grader??? Now that she is getting ready to start high school, she needs to decide on her career path now so she can enroll in the "appropriate classes" to help her become employable after HS. The school has special focus schools, so students can fast-track themselves into employment, but they must enroll in these specialty programs during their 8th grade year.</p>
<p>hahaha. My kids used to have to take career aptitude tests, only it wasn't really aptitude (I'm not sure what they called them). Sons kept coming up that he should be a groundskeeper. This is a kid in 8, 9, 10th grade taking honors college prep classes. Finally we figured out why. He was typical boy- liked outdoors, sports, etc. They'd ask questions like, "Would you rather a) write a poem, b) solve math problems, c) go hiking, or d) conduct an orchestra? Uhh, duh. He always answered the outdoorsy thing. For a while we were worried, tho.
Those tests are soooo stupid.</p>
<p>I live in Florida and the whole major thing is overblown. The only requirement is that you devote half of your elective credits (which would be one class per year) to a single subject. You still get all your core classes in and you can still take other electives outside your major. You can also change your major whenever you like and you don't really have to complete an entire major to graduate if I understand it correctly. I still think the entire thing is a farce but it isn't entirely awful.</p>
<p>Kindly--then it's even sillier! You could change your "major" every year so you could take art AND choir AND drama AND computing AND (whatever interesting electives they offer.)</p>
<p>While this specific idea sounds mind-bogglingly stupid, I do think a 'concentration' is a good idea-- as an option. Maybe the sort of thing you didn't have to declare until junior or senior year, and with allowances made for electives? </p>
<p>As a student, I've lately found myself wondering about this. I'm taking lots of AP's, 3 of which are science/math, plus PreAP physics. I'd love to have taken a math/science concentration to relieve me of stuff like US history, economics, govt, etc and leave more time for calculus and chemistry. However, I wouldn't give up freshman- or junior-year English for anything, and same goes for two of the painting classes I took.</p>
<p>Locally, perhaps statewide, they want all students, including freshmen, to pick a career area- this is so students are forced to think ahead and plan to take their electives/required options with their after high school life in mind. They don't want students to reach mid-senior year and be clueless about what to do next. College bound students have to do this, it may seem silly for them (but in a way these students need to think about why they want college) and it certainly helps the others plan classes that can lead to jobs, and tech school posssibilities. Being an empty nester I don't recall the exact details, but that's the concept. This is not tracking, but goal setting.</p>
<p>I agree with Aniviel.
I think that it should be optional for upperclassmen. Some kids really know what they are interested in, and should take advantage of that, while still taking basic core classes during frosh/soph years. However, students that are unsure of where they want to go, or would like to concentrate in more than one area, shouldn't be discouraged. If you can have the opp. to double major in college, why should you have to choose one subject over another in high school?</p>
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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!
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<p>My school district did this exact same thing back when I was in middle school. every January, all 8th graders are expected to think about where they want to attend high school (I attended school in a fairly large urban district in NYS). Then they are sent application packets with a page devoted to each of the magnet and comprehensive HS programs in the city. Students and parents read over each program's synopsis, which contains information such as academics, how many students are enrolled, how many credits are required to earn a Regents diploma in the program, etc. After that, students and their parents attend open houses at various schools, where they listen to presentations from the school's administration, visit different classrooms, and meet some of the teachers who talk about the courses they teach at the school to help narrow down their choices. After all of that, students then rank their top 3 choices of programs to attend, fill out and sign their applications, then turn them in to their school's guidance couselor. Then in Mid-March or April, each eighth grader is mailed a letter stating which one of their high school choices they were accepted into, and thus will be attending for the next four years. </p>
<p>I know some of the parents who posted in this thread dislike school systems where 8th graders must choose a major before starting 9th grade, but when you have to decide where your child spends their HS years, it makes you more concious of what your child needs and wants in their education. For example, after I went through the process I described in the first paragraph, I decided to apply to a magnet high school program where I would be required to take at least three years each of two foreign languages, take courses in the humanities, take at least one year of music, and be encouraged to take as many APs I could. I was accepted into that program and did quite well. If anything, when it came time to apply to colleges, I was partially prepared because I went through a smaller scale search and selection process in eighth grade.</p>
<p>I'm not going to get into the issue of what <em>should</em> be required, but I want to note that my daughter attended a public arts high school as a dance major -- and the only way to get into that high school was to audition as an 8th grader for a specific department. (Kids could audition on different days for different departments -- for example, a kid might try out both for vocal and for theater -- but they would have to select one before starting school.) It was possible to change majors along the way, though that also required an audition.</p>
<p>My daughter does not want a career in dance nor does she intend to major in dance in college, and she pretty much knew that in 8th grade. My guess is that the majority of the kids at the school do not expect to make careers of whatever art was their major -- at most 15-20% have both the drive and the talent to actually make a go of pursuing their art professionally. For the others it simply made high school a very special and enjoyable experience, with a chance to really improve and develop their areas of talent. And her high school provided many unique opportunities that made those 4 years very special -- I mean, I think she will always be able to look back at her high school years as a time when she did <em>more</em> than merely take courses to prepare for college.</p>
<p>My son went to a different, alternative or magnet high school, which didn't have any sort of "major", but did have a unique approach to education. His high school followed a strong ideology of an integrated and project-based approach to education, with students required to prepare a culminating senior exhibition. </p>
<p>My point is that a high school can offer a specialized program or emphasis without it turning into a lifelong commitment... and I honestly think it helped both my kids for college admissions to be coming from high schools that were themselves interesting, in their own way. Both of my kids had opportunities to take AP classes and a full college-prep curriculum. So I think that if was the parent of an 8th grader in Florida, I'd at least want to explore the options before getting too angry about the situation.</p>
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Both of my kids had opportunities to take AP classes and a full college-prep curriculum.
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<p>That sounds good. I didn't get the impression the Florida mom said that would be the case in her child's situation.</p>
<p>In our local large urban school system they have "magnet" schools which concentrate on technology, arts, foreign languages, etc. and they can be good if
1. you know what you want to study and
2. the students are held to a high standard. </p>
<p>So far only the "college prep" HS graduates any NM finalists or commendeds (one way to gauge effectiveness.)</p>
<p>I worry that a child will attend the "arts" school, for ex. and have a great time, but how many kids are really going to major in theater or dance in college? After HS they discover they have been shortchanged in the academics needed for top colleges--or any college.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you KNOW what you want--perhaps Cisco certification or even other technical training--HS should allow you to get it instead of struggling with Math/foreign language you don't need/want. College isn't for everyone. But it should be an option not foreclosed to you.</p>
<p>Perhaps the HS dropout rate wouldn't be so high if there were more technical schools available.</p>