Don’t want to take math? Okay, don’t. Don’t want to take science? That’s fine.

Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to set your schedule this way?  Well, if MCPS allowed students to make some important decisions on the classes they take after sophomore year, it could be this way.

After you finish your 10^th grade year, you should start thinking about what you want to do after high school because planning early is a good idea. However, teenagers are not the only ones who should be thinking this way – schools should begin looking at students’ futures earlier, as well.

If you are sure about what you want to major in when you get to college, you should begin preparing as soon as possible.  For  example, if you want to be an engineer and know this after your sophomore year, then you should be allowed to take more classes that prepare you for this career field.  Really, there is  no point  in having to take two more years of English or history during your junior and senior years when you could be taking  engineering classes or classes that cover related content.

To be an engineer, you’ll need to know equations and measurements, so there should be a special class offered where you can learn this type of material. It could be like a special math class for people interested in being engineers or people who want to build houses. For people interested in sciences, there could be a similar class that involves science.

Of course, you’d still  have the opportunity to take electives such as gym, dance, photography, or other similar classes, but the key is that you would be learning material that you consider important to your future.  This kind of thinking puts power in students’ choices.

High schools should give their students this opportunity to allow them a peek at college life or the way colleges function. In college you choose your classes and your area of study.  Your classes – after some general education requirements (which sounds a lot like high school) – mostly depend on your major is.  Being required to choose a focus in college –a major – is precisely why junior and senior year should provide students with opportunities that really let high school prepare you for college.

A better system of study for students would allow them to feel in control of their future.  Allowing students to take classes that interest them after a certain period of time – and achievement – puts the impetus on them to not only choose wisely but also to perform in those classes.  Paint Branch already does this in some ways with classes in media, medical careers, business, and child development,  but even more could be done to make it better.

Students would most definitely change their minds about school and maybe even look forward to going to school. Students would prefer being in classes they got to choose that have to do with what their major may be rather than be in 46-minute classes they feel forced to attend and endure.