The Oregon House of Representatives recently approved a bill that would make the laying out of a future education or employment plan a requirement towards a high school diploma, The Huffington Post reports. House Bill 2732 requires students to either complete and submit an application to college or internship program, enlist in the military, or attend an apprenticeship orientation workshop before they can receive a diploma.

Representative Tobias Read, who sponsored the bill, said that it will encourage students to focus on their future careers as early as possible:

“This bill does not intend to tell anyone what choice is right for them. It merely aims to prompt the consideration of those options and encourage students to think about what’s important to them.”

The bill passed 33-26 with about two-thirds of Democrats and one-third of the Republicans voting in support of it.

Representative Peter Buckley shared his experience of a visiting a local high school where he talked to some students who were taking advanced placement classes:

“25 out of 28 AP students weren’t applying for college…my heart broke at that point. This bill is a common sense bill…it will give (students) a push to fill out that application and say ‘What’s next for me?’”

Parent Kevin Taggert disagrees with this idea, calling it nothing more than just another piece of paper or another hoop for kids to jump through before they can get a diploma they’ve already earned:

“I don’t think it’s the job of the schools to force kids to think about their future. It’s the job of the schools to teach the kids to be successful in their future.”