For some students choosing a major begins in ninth grade

The students choosing these “majors,” though, are incoming high school freshmen.

Several states now require students to choose a major or specialization upon entering high school in hopes that a concentrated course of study can help them find more focus and relevance in their academics while still providing a broad-based education.

Advocates of high school majors say the concept compliments core academic classes and better prepares students for college or the work force.

“We have an awful lot of rhetoric that we ought to prepare everyone for college and a career coming out of high school,” said Gene Bottoms, a vice president at the Southern Regional Education Board in Atlanta. “But for all this talk about rigor, we do not talk much about what we have to do to get students motivated to succeed in these demanding courses. They have to have a goal and see a reason for learning a more demanding curriculum.”

Requiring students to select a major is not a new idea, and it is often based on career academy programs and other specializations that have gained traction in recent years.

South Carolina has a “major” requirement similar to Florida’s, and Mississippi is testing a pilot program in several districts.

The concept has its critics, though, and many parents are skeptical. Advocates of traditional liberal arts and back-to-basics curricula say adolescents as young as 13 or 14 years old do not have the maturity to choose even a nonbinding course path for their secondary careers and could be funneled into a career choice that they would later regret.

Some say the programs should allow students to change majors or simply try out different types of fields if they must commit to a specific course of study.

Gerald Bracey, for one, notes that a feature that is often admired about the U.S. higher education system is its flexibility for allowing students to change majors or come back for a second chance if they failed in one course area, unlike more stringent Asian and European institutions.

Even then, he noted, many adults don’t decide on a specific career path until after college, when they are in their 20s or 30s. Also, career trends and required skills can change dramatically, in ways that can’t be predicted.

“I don’t see any particularly good purpose in tying a kid down to an area, particularly because now there are so many things happening that you don’t know what the future is going to be like,” he said.

Lillian Finn, the director of the office of secondary reform at Florida’s education department, expects the majority of students will change majors and try out different programs. Some students might not be able to decide on a topical area in time for graduation -- and that’s OK with her.

“We want them to experiment now rather than spend mom and dad’s money once they get to college,” she said. “The majors are designed to make the high school experience more relevant to students -- that’s the whole philosophy behind majors, for them to really do something that they’ve chosen and are interested in.”

In Florida, students and their parents have a choice of about five to 20 course concentrations from the long list of approved majors, based on their interests as well as the school’s ability to offer the elective courses.

Florida also has a limited public school choice program that allows some students to transfer to other high schools, and Finn expects high schools will see more transfer applications if they market the majors that they offer.

The state requirements grew out of the specialized programs local districts and schools had created for a variety of reasons, such as preventing dropouts, increasing sagging enrollment, or boosting academic rigor.

Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood, N.J., began offering six majors this year as a way to raise student achievement in a school that has struggled with low test scores in recent years.

The initiative, which is modeled on a successful career academy program at a neighboring magnet school, calls for Morrow’s 550 students to choose among six small learning academies which offer majors in allied health, fine and performing arts, communications, international studies, liberal arts, and sports leadership and management.

At the end of four years, students will have 30 to 36 elective credits in their chosen major; typically, they will take one class each semester during their freshman and sophomore years and two classes during the junior and senior years.

The courses are also being designed to relate to broader topics. For instance, a student majoring in sports leadership and management would take classes in the history of American sports, marketing, ethics and conflict resolution, team leadership, and decision making and problem solving for leaders.

Assistant Superintendent Michael Polizzi said school leaders wanted to help keep students engaged and thought a major would give them an edge when applying to college.

“The research we’ve gotten from a good number of college admissions counselors is that when [students] have a transcript that reflects an immersion in a particular area, it bodes favorably because it shows a passion and willingness to stick with it,” said Polizzi.

The most popular majors this year are the ones dealing with health and sports management, Polizzi said. But, he added, students are allowed to change majors if they show a compelling reason.

So far, most of the criticism has been from parents who were concerned that their children would be locked into a career path and would be missing out on other academic subjects. But Polizzi said most students have been enthusiastic about the program and have been confident in their decisions when choosing a major.

“Some parents were concerned that their children are too young to make a decision like this, but if you talk to the kids, however, their perspective is pretty much the opposite,” he said. The students’ “experience so far is that they know what they want to do, or don’t want to do, early on.”

Bottoms said a career-focused curriculum where students apply the skills they learn in classes could be a better measure of learning than standardized tests.