Like they Know

So there is a Florida proposal to require high school students pick majors. High school students? Pick majors?

"'It's just stuff I don't think I'm really going to need for the job I want,' Lila said. 'I'd probably like it if I had more things to help me in the future.'"
- 15 year old Lila Zoghbi (wants to be an engineer)

Yes, she is an honor student. I'm sure she will be a very successful person. Right now, however, she lacks the wisdom, understanding, knowledge base, and foresight necessary to discern which of the things she is learning now will be helpful in her future. Neither are her parents, politicians, or even teachers able to know such things. I know this will come as a huge surprise, but the future is UNKNOWN. "Woah, really?!?" Yes, really. Even if her career choice is known and plays out as she sees it now, that does not change that she can not discern these things. Because while science and math courses have obvious associations with engineering, the effect of social studies, literature, fine arts, foreign language, et cetera is less clear. Most people think these things are important, but to what degree? Do they produce better personal skills, more complete and capable voters/citizens? Do they just allow someone to have a greater appreciation of the variety in life? No matter how many studies are done, we will never really know.

Beyond that, someone who wants to be an engineer is going to go to college, where she/he will receive all of the [engineer] specific training that he/she needs. There is no reason to target high school courses to a career. Further, core high school curricula are far from demanding for "...honor students with high ambitions..." they are virtually non-existant. If these students are so horribly bored they should take more classes, they must have room for it. I finished high school with about twice the state required classes. There was plenty of room for me to take lots of extra math, science, foreign language and fine arts (plus extra social studies and religion classes--it was a Catholic school). If Florida's school system is so strapped for cash that students are not allowed to enroll in full schedules, then that is the real problem. If students want to take more, targeted classes, that is fine, but they should never come at the expense of other coursework. If they must then either the student is in fact lazy, or the state funding is insufficient. Pushing people to choose careers earlier and earlier is a good way to make the population less and less capable.