http://keranews.org/post/texas-students-choose-career-paths-eighth-grade-and-thats-creating-anxiety
About two years ago, Texas state legislators decided to mandate that high schools provide five different career paths (called endorsements) that students choose from based on their career interests for the future. Endorsements are comparable to a college major in which students take classes based on their interests and complete projects to help prepare them for careers in those types of positions. The five endorsements that students can choose from are: STEM, business and industry, public service, arts and humanities, and multidisciplinary studies.
The concern that this article addresses is whether students who haven't even started high school yet should be required to make such a major decision. It does mention that students are able to change their endorsement if they believe they have chosen the wrong one but it's not clear about how that affects their on-time graduation status.
The article also discusses the need for districts to hire more counselors to help students to make these decisions. Ideally, counselors would be meeting with each student individually to help guide them through that decision but time may not allow for that.
What do you think about students choosing their career path prior to high school? Do you agree with the official quoted in the article who said that it could lower drop-out rates
I don't like the idea of forcing students to make a major decision like this. I think that it is great that there are specialized classes like this, but it should be an option and a way of students to try new things, not plan their future. It is important to give students goals and something to motivate them, but pushing them to make a decision too early may cause the opposite or loss of hope to be successful especially if it is too overwhelming for them.
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