Florida Education Commissioner John Winn talks to 8th-graders at Odyssey Middle School in Orlando on Monday about the majors the students must declare as 9th-graders for the 2007-08 school year.

 How do students pick a major? This year, incoming freshmen will pick a major along with the courses they hope to take as they register for high school. 

 

"Some kids may be ready to pick a career in school, but some may not," said Jacqueline Ancess, co-director of the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools and Teaching at Columbia University's Teachers College.  "I think this is something that is convenient for officials, but they need to think about it from the perspective of their own child. What can happen here is that that child may be miserable every day for the next four years."

 

This article appeared in the February 18, 2007 edition of the Orlando Sentinel.