Setting the Standard

We discovered this piece in an early 21st Century Tallahassee, Florida paper. It’s an interesting commentary on the issues and the variant opinions of those times.
Namaste,
Euroswydd, Reiki Clown and Mort

Stunning News…Florida’s children may soon provide the standard by which the rest of the world’s children will measure themselves.
A presumably well informed and mature Governor Jeb Bush has seen fit to extend to his young constituents the duty of deciding what they will do for the rest of their lives as a prerequisite for high school admittance. He and the Florida Republican Party are backing a bill whose mandate requires each and every high school teen-ager to declare the major they will pursue during their High School Years.
Now in my day—those of you easing out of your late 30’s, 40’s, into your 50’s and beyond can relate to this phrase, and for those of you that can’t…don’t worry you will soon enough—we were much less decisive. Many entered college with undeclared majors, many changed their minds midstream. Clearly the physiology and mental acumen of my generation weren’t of a caliber comparable with today’s youth. The accelerated development of these children is truly outstanding—and a little hard to believe. Could there be such a jump in life skills acumen in a single generation? If this trend continues one wonders if those in the lower grades will soon be prepared to declare majors.
On the other hand, if the ability to aptly discern has been there all along how many were frustrated at eight, nine or ten when not taken seriously upon declaring themselves to be future fire fighters, astronauts, artists, nurses or circus acrobats? Could it be that we have been perpetrating a disservice upon our youth allowing them all those years to explore the possibilities before arriving at an informed, well researched decision regarding the rest of their lives?