According to K-12 Dive, three-fourths of high school graduates aren’t sure of their college or career paths. Even though most of these legal adults do not know what they want to be when they grow up, schools now require middle school students to begin making lifelong decisions. Making students choose and follow a program of study throughout high school is ill-advised and not necessary.

Students in middle school are too young to be pressured about career or college decisions. A young person who just became a teenager should not be making the decisions that will define the rest of their lives. Opinions change, so what is interesting and viable at one age may not be at another. 

Course selections are supposed to prepare students for their future and make clear the requirements they must meet to achieve that. According to a YouScience Post-graduation readiness report, 53 percent of college graduates changed their college major at least two times. 14-year-olds should not be expected to make those same kinds of decisions before stepping into high school.

Picking a program of study can put stress on students who are pressured by parents and teachers to follow a certain career path instead of pursuing their interests. This could result in students feeling pushed to take a course because of what others want rather than what they want.

 When young students are required to create pathways and make decisions that determine their ongoing education. Course selections do not always result in rational or truthful decisions but pressured pursuits, stressful decisions, or just being too young to make hard decisions. 

Students should not be required to follow through with a program of study and selections if it will not find them benefit.