Thursday September 17, 2009

Starting next school year, Virginia's seventh-graders will have to spell out what they plan to study in high school and how their academic goals will help them achieve what they intend to do after graduation, whether it's go to college or get a job.

"All my friends want to be a football player except for one. One wants to be a video game tester," says fifth-grader Ryan Auman.

Auman's dad, Sean Manly, says the State Board of Education's vote Thursday to force kids to plan ahead is okay by him.

"Every kid wants to be the rock star or the football player," Manly said, "but to have them think about other careers I think, you know, it'll be good."

The new mandate is an offshoot of a proposal Governor Kaine made last year and educators say it aims to lower dropout rates by getting students thinking about their future, rather than thinking about dropping out.

Starting next fall, seventh-graders will be asked to figure out what they want to do for a living, which high school classes will help them get there, and if college is a part of their future plans.

They'll get the chance to re-visit those goals all throughout high school and parents and teachers will have to sign off periodically.

It promises to have students like Ryan thinking about something other than playing pro football.

"A lot of kids think that and a lot of them probably won't be a football player," he admits.

"I don't think it could hurt any. I don't think it'll do any harm," his dad says.

Governor Kaine initially pushed this as a way to make Virginia's workforce more competitive on the global stage in the future.

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