Got a major?

Raise your hand if you know what you want to do with the rest of your life. And raise your hand again if you've had the same major since matriculation. Finally, keep that hand up if you've known what that major was going to be since you were 14. \nNow look around, and realize that if your hand is raised, you're probably in the minority, which is why I'm more than a little ambivalent about Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's proposal that would require all incoming freshmen at Florida high schools to declare a major.\nHe hopes that his proposal will lower drop-out rates and claims that "it's a really smart way to make high school more relevant and prepare young people for what college will hold."\nI, meanwhile, aside from being disgusted at the self-aggrandizing way Bush praises his own proposal, am \ndubious. \nThis proposal will be great for those students who know what they want to do, allowing them to spend their time preparing for future jobs or college majors. This, in turn, might produce better equipped, and maybe even less cynical, incoming university students.\nI, for one, would have been elated if I could have chosen an English major at 14, and thus forgone all the ridiculous classes I took to fill my schedule and fulfill the state's requirements. An extra literature class might have come in handy, but the only time I ever use my high school physics education is to annoy my science-minded friends with a barrage of questions about things I'll never understand. \nToo bad laws aren't about what is best for the individual, but what's best for society. \nHigh school is when students first get the opportunity to explore different fields and activities, and most school systems require that its students sample a little of everything. This is, no doubt, the bane of some students' existence, but for others, it's the first opportunity they have to find something they really like. It's those who haven't even found their calling yet who might suffer under the new bill.\nIt's not the intent, but the all-or-nothing mentality of the bill, that's problematic. We, supposedly adults, aren't even expected to declare a major when we get here. How can anyone expect a 14-year-old to have the maturity and foresight we don't expect out of college students?\nThe bill could be fairer and more beneficial to all students if it would simply require students to choose a major any time before, say, their junior year. There's enough pressure on kids that age that blindly choosing a major doesn't need to be an issue. Some of them haven't even finished puberty yet.\nNonetheless, it's an innovative experiment, and, let's face it, public schools across the country are in dire need of innovation. It's less costly than many other proposed education reforms, and if it works out in Florida, it might inspire reforms nationwide. If not, at least there's little chance that it would cause any major damage.