Major dilemma: more schools are requiring high school freshmen to declare a major. Do majors make school more interesting, or do they force students to specialize to soon?

• Author: Hu, Winnie
• Position: EDUCATION - Dwight Morrow High School

Sometimes it's hard enough just deciding what to wear to school each morning or what to have for lunch, let alone picking a field to major in. But as of this fall, freshmen at Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood, N.J., are required to declare a major that will determine which electives they take for the next four years.

School officials say that for Morrow--a school that has struggled with low test scores--establishing majors is a way to keep students interested until graduation.

Some parents welcome the requirement, noting that a magnet school in the district already allowed some students to specialize. But other parents and some educators crticize it as an educational fad or a marketing gimmick.

"I thought high school was about finding out what you liked to do," says Kendall Eastman, an Englewood parent who graduated from Morrow in 1978. "I think it's too early to be so rigid."

In fact, many college students don't pick majors until junior year. Debra Humphreys of the Association of American Colleges and Universities calls high school majors "a colossally bad idea," saying students should develop a broad range of skills.

"Today's economy requires people to be constantly learning and changing," says Humphreys. "A lot of jobs that high school students are likely to have 10 years from now don't yet exist, so preparing too narrowly will not serve them well."

FLORIDA'S 400 MAJORS

A number of school districts around the country are experimenting with high school majors--an outgrowth of the popular "career academies" that have become common nationally. The Southern Regional Education Board, a nonprofit education organization, said that of the 1,200 high schools it works with in 32 states, about half now require students to specialize.

But while many career academies simply add a few courses to a core curriculum, majors require students to make a more serious commitment to a particular educational path.

This fall, Florida became the first state to require majors in high school. Ninth-graders must choose from 400 state-approved subjects, ranging from world cultures to fashion design.

In Englewood, every eighth-grader already works with a guidance counselor to formulate a six-year academic plan that stretches through the first year of college.

COLLEGE APPEAL?

District officials say they are adding majors to personalize the learning experience and engage students. Another reason is that colleges have said that they favor students with expertise in...