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Sunday, March 26, 2006

Florida Teens Declare Majors

Soon (I guess if it passes), fourteen-year-olds in Florida will be declaring high school majors and minors. I actually like this idea a lot (who cares that it comes from a Bush?) for several reasons.

1. Focus. This will help kids focus that their high school education is a step towards actually creating a satisfying life, not just a social arena where the only real goals are good numbers on your "permanent records" (and not too many highjinks) , and generally surviving. As Jack Cafferty said on CNN the other day (I have to paraphrase here), "I majored in clearing up my acne and losing my virginity."

Not that this will end all of that. But it will give the whole educational part of it a sense of purpose beyond the abstract idea of "college". There are plenty of state requirements, but fill them with purpose. Want to be a lawyer? Take Latin as your foreign language. Want to run a retail store? Take Spanish or whatever second language you get a lot of in your area. Got to take a writing course? Knowing whether you're going into business or theatre or journalism could really help you take a class that will appeal to your interests. And even if you don't intend on going to college, it will help you see high school as a tool to get you somewhere.

2. Makes it more interesting. I was heading into this point in the last one. When you choose your classes based on where you're headed, you're more likely to find classes that hold your interest. And when the past plural subjunctive of some verb starts to numb your mind, you can at least take heart that it will be of some help to you in the future.

3. Hopefully will cause new classes to open up. For example, the writing class I mentioned in #1. Say you are going into theatre, you would be more interested in a fiction or poetry class than a journalism class. But if there were enough theatre majors and minors, maybe the cirriculum would start offering play analysis classes and play writing classes. Or say you want to run a retail store-- the basic class in economics wouldn't help you as much as a Small Business Economics class.

4. Get kids thinking about life=productivity instead of life=leisure. This is kind of like the focus concept in #1, but is unique to Florida. I went to middle and high school in Florida, and one of the reasons, it seems to me, that it's hard to focus is that everyone around you is focused on leisure. The retirees are playing golf, etc., and enjoying themselves; the tourists are all wrapped up in having a good time; and many if not most of the industries in Florida (especially the ones that high school kids are exposed to) are leisure-centered. It's all souvenir shops and restaurants and jet ski rentals and frozen yogurt stands (that was my job in HS). Not to say the guy who owns the surfboard shop isn't working hard for a living, but the focus of his living is surfing, i.e., leisure. You're just surrounded by other people playing all the time. It gives you the strange perspective that leisure is really the only goal, that you do it every second you can tear yourself away from the other crap the Man is making you do for the rent. And for us teens, every warm sunny "Beach Day" (yeah, there were a lot of them) was an excuse to ditch school.

[Now, maybe that's right. Maybe you could argue that goofing off really should be the goal. You hippie. Kidding! I'm just saying, this primary leisure focus is a phenomenon that's unique to FLA and to other tourist traps like it.]

5. Preparing kids for productive lives that might not have anything to do with college. I once had a friend from Germany who explained that they have a similar system. Early on (in your early teens) you take tests and are assigned a track which you follow throughout your education. Some tracks lead to college, some lead to apprenticeships in different trades, etc. I admit that sounded both a bit draconian and a bit communist (I think they assigned careers too) when I first heard about it, but the American version sounds much better. It's driven more by individual choice than others' assessment of you.

Still, there are many kids in public school who don't want to or don't plan to go to college. Maybe they just aren't good students (not bad people, just not setting any records in the brain department) or their circumstances aren't heading that way (I'm going to help run the family business) or their dreams aren't heading that way ("My life's dream is to open a surf shop!" or to train horses or cut hair or whatever). High School can be a very depressing and seemingly pointless endeavor to these kids. Everything seems to be aimed at propelling you to college, but if you know you aren't going, it makes you feel like what's the point?

But to embrace high school and say to yourself, "I know I don't want to go to college, so this is my last chance to educate myself, I'm going to make the most of it." And then you take the Small Business course and Greek (we were in Tarpon Springs, where that was the major second language) and you go on field trips to local surf shops and talk to the owners and do reports on the industry and make up a business plan.

Not that everything should be so tailored. Even a surf shop owner should know who Charles Dickens and Washington Irving and Mozart and Edward R. Murrow and Arthur Miller are. And we all should learn the mistakes of Vietnam that led to the Powell Doctrine. And playing an instrument and learning to draw and playing a sport and all of these things are also important. But there are already gym classes for the physically goofy (I took something called recreational sports where we learned a little ping pong, a little tennis, a little softball, you know, stuff you might do with friends or coworkers) and other slightly tailored classes, I don't see why we can't have a little more of that. Besides, it's not necessary that the classes be so tailored, but that the student knows why they are there and what they are trying to get out of it, so they can tailor the classes themselves. For instance, you have to write a report on a famous person. The theatre major might pick Joe Papp, while the small business entrepenuer-type might pick Donald Trump. The kids already can do that, but they might not think of it, and their teacher might not either. Having declared a major, it puts this on the front of their minds, and knowing a student's major would help the teacher reach them and give them ideas.

I'm interested to see how it works out.

Update: On Thursday, May 5, 2006 the Florida Legislature passed this bill overwhelmingly. It's still up for going on Jeb Bush's desk but it was his bill so there's no doubt it will pass.

The measure also includes fourth year of math and career counseling in middle school. CNN is also reporting, "The measure also would set up a ready-to-work program for high school students who don't plan to go to college, professional development programs for principals and special classes for struggling students." They also changed the language from "majors and minors" to "major fields of interest", I think to reduce the pressure on kids from having to choose so young.

Old but not stupid

Saw another headline today about the Medicaire drug plan confusing seniors. Now, I grant you that it's confusing, and it's probably a sucker's bet all the way around, but I am so tired of hearing that "old = stupid". Most old people got that way by NOT being stupid! It's the butterfly ballot all over again-- a legitimately confusing ballot, that probably would have gotten me too, but by the time the media got through with the story, every citizen of Palm Beach was so senile they could hardly find their way to the polls in the first place! Drives me crazy!

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Tolerance vs. Conformity

The inherent difference between the two parties is that the conservatives embrace conformity while the liberals embrace tolerance. This is the root cause of their two different approaches to the political realm.

While the conservatives might have many (as you* said, "messy") points of view, they are trained to conform, or appear to conform, and as Craig234 [another letter-writer on Salon.com*] wrote, attach to brand loyalty. They also connect one brand-loyalty (for example, their church affiliation) with another (their party). ("I'm a good Baptist so I must be a good Republican.") If they disagree, they are discouraged from showing it, and if they must show it, they must still hate Dems and vote Republican.

The liberals, on the other hand, embrace tolerance for many points of view. They not only freely disagree with each other while appreciating the other's point of view, but they even embrace the right's right to their point of view. While Craig234 suggests that they should "have as their 'unity' message that they are the party which broadly repesents the most Americans' interests" (which is true, they do and they should), by virtue of saying "We support you and your right to your opinion," the message is already split.

The right are a lot like a trail of ants, all marching along in a line (some wandering off occasionally, but for the most part, all going the same way). Corralling the left is more like herding cats. I don't know if there is an answer to the "unified message problem" when its roots are so deeply ingrained into who we are as people.

(*originally published by me as a letter on Salon.com-- chosen as an Editor's Choice!)