Winter's Night Blog

I wouldn't go along with this idea, to me education is about developing myself as a person and enriching my life. to limit my education only to subjects made to help me succeed at a chosen profession, is like suggesting
that my only value is in my job. people change in life, they are constantly growing and their preferences change.
one parent in the article said it was good for students to be taking their education more seriously. of course you want people to take their educations more seriously, but this isn't the way to go about it. its nobodies fault but hers if she "majored in boys". specialists are only good for one thing but a well rounded person who pursues many subjects and interests has a wealth of knowledge and many skills. everyone chooses a major eventually because we are all going to need to get jobs and pay the rent somehow but education is much more than a gateway to a certain career. we should value those years when we are able to explore new interests and subjects in highschool. I'm all for choices and freedom, so if this works for some students then this should be an available option for them, despite my personal opinions on the subject, but to make it required would deprive students of an opportunity to develop themselves and discover new interests.
if they have problems with the phrase "I'm never going to need that when I grow up" maybe they should try requiring less in the school systems they already have. it would make classes more enjoyable for everyone who takes them by eliminating the little bastards who like to sit there and cause trouble and whine because the only students who attended them would be attending classes of their choice, that they valued. of course people make the argument that you need required classes to give people a well-rounded education but I've never had a problem letting people make their own bad decisions and reaping the consequences, you can't force people into a well-rounded education any more than you can make them appreciate their education, they are going to do what they will do.
now a very obvious problem with this is where they have students assigned to their second choice...if you are going to make such a serious program , you better be able to give everyone their first choice, if this is going to prepare students for life then no-one deserves to get stuck with their second choice.

Oh Lawd. That was Gail's writing, for reference, but she had me (Saxon) submit it to your blog.

I think you should have the option to decide whether or not you want to start focusing early on want you want to become in the future. If high school is preparing you for college, then you should be able to study what interests you while your still in high school. And if someones worried about not being able to try new things and "branch out", i'm sure theres something you can find outside of school that you might like. Starting in high school will only increase your chances of becoming succesful in the future. Plus you'll be around people who have the same interests and goals as you. So i'm all for it.

they are ups and downs to everything including this, i'm horrible at remebering quotes, like Mr. Ruiz said, "There are people with real deep wells that don't go stretch out very far, and people with shallow pools that stretch out really far. So there are people that know aloty in a few subjects, and people that know a little in alot of subjects." One upside is that by focusing your entire highschool years into your major, which will make you so much better at it. But ultimately they will not have quite as much knowledge in other fields. which is vice versa as well. So the best thing to do is to choose a major and study about it and other things at 50/50. Its also good to study outside of schoolwhen ever you fell like it. so there my input its probably not that good , but i wasn't really trying to get the extra credit anyways. Idid this cuase i was bored. And i beleive i typed Mr. Ruiz name correctly the Spanish teacher.

Possible. i dont know what i want to do yet so it could be a great help or a big waste of time. i change my mind alot so it would prob. be a bad idea.

While it may seem like a good idea to allow a student to focus in on only classes that teach them what they need to know for the job they want, I think 14 is far too young to really know what you want to do. I am still not quite sure what I want to do, and if I had been required to choose what I wanted to major in two 3 years ago, I am sure I would have changed my mind many times since then. I am surprised that this school was even allowed to make such a life-changing requirement on their students, as high-school is a key time in exploring different career fields and different skills required for the careers. Students should be allowed to choose whether they want to take career-specific classes or to take general classes that will help them in many different careers. Overall, I believe that a generalized education with many choices in careers is preferable to an education focused on a specific career field, as a focused education eliminates many choices that are necessary to avoid being given the unfortunate choice of being stuck in an unhappy career or not graduating as a senior to allow the classes of the new career path to be taken.

I would pick fine and performing arts but I have wanted to major in performing arts since I was 10. I guess it would great for those who know what they want to do. What about those that want to explore more? Hmmmm decisions,decisions.

Choosing a major in high school sounds sounds like a good oppertunity to practice for college. In college people often change their major several times, maybe if you decide aginst something in high school you will be less likely to change your mind so much in college. As a highschool freshman or sophmore I don't think you would have any idea what major to choose. I think it would be a good idea to start your major in the last two years of high school but not be required to choose a major if you dont want to. There should also be an oppertunity to change your major if it turns out to be something completely different than what you imagined. It would be horrible to not be able to experience a variety of classes because you chose the wrong major.

i think choosing a major in high school is WAY too young, and on average college students change their major 4 times. so if they change it 4 times and they are in college, what does that say about picking a major in high school? that they would get stuck being something that they wanted to be 3 years ago, but have totally changed their minds about now.

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