Majors for high-schoolers aim to focus learning

More states are requiring 'career pathways' to lower dropout rates and engage students better.

By Caitlin Carpenter | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

from the October 4, 2007 edition

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Brighton, Mass. - If three years ago you had told Latasha Jackson of Brighton, Mass., that she would go to college, she would have scoffed. Now a high school senior, Latasha has applied to some of the best business colleges in the state and intends to be the first generation of her family to pursue a postsecondary education.

"When I first got here," she says, "I thought there was no way I'd want to do another four years of classes after high school. But after I chose the business pathway, I realized there are some days I can't wait to get to accounting class."

This class, which helped cultivate La­tasha's interest in school, is one of the courses she takes through Brighton High School's business and technology pathway program. Brighton has four other school-to-college-to-career pathways for ninth-graders to choose.

"When I got to high school," Latasha says, "I didn't know what my pathway should be. Health? No, I'm too squeamish. Law? I like to talk, but I have my shy moments, too. Then I thought, [rap performer] Jay-Z's an entrepreneur, and he does all right."

Brighton is not the only high school trying to captivate students like Latasha and encourage them to plan for life beyond high school. Dropout rates are on the rise because, according to surveys of these dropouts, classes are "boring" and unrelated to their lives. Thus, high school educators and state officials are focused on improving the three R's of retention, relevance, and relationships.

As the new school year progresses, a growing number of schools across the United States are trying new approaches to move students from feeling like anonymous drones with an ambiguous destiny to focused learners.

In some schools, such as Brighton, students are in broad topical clusters, while in others, such as Sarasota High School in Florida, students must think about what specific job they aim to achieve, and choose a relevant major.

Even as more states and individual schools adopt this "major" approach, critics say high school should be a place for gaining general knowledge and communication skills. Students aren't ready to narrow their career options yet, they say.

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