Valuing General Academic Strand (GAS): Exploring attitude of the SHS graduating class on their career choice

The General Academic Strand (GAS) serves as a flexible option for students who remain undecided about their future college courses or degrees. It allows learners to pursue higher education regardless of the strand they completed in senior high school, thus providing opportunities for exploration and preparation. However, choosing a career path is often considered one of the most challenging decisions in life, as students are confronted with a vast range of information and choices (Gati et al., 2019). This challenge frequently leads to mismatches between the strand completed in senior high school and the prerequisites required for a chosen college degree. As a result, many graduates are compelled to take bridging programs to meet the qualifications, further burdening families with additional financial responsibilities. Such circumstances place parents in difficult situations as they strive to provide quality education for their children while managing financial constraints. By emphasizing the value of GAS, however, students are encouraged to recognize the importance of the curriculum, particularly the elective subjects from Grades 11 and 12, which can guide them in selecting degree programs more aligned with their competencies. This alignment can help reduce the need for costly bridging courses and, consequently, ease financial pressures on parents. The present study was therefore conducted to examine the attitudes of Grade 12 GAS students toward the degree programs they intend to pursue in college, particularly after completing the curriculum during the school year 2024–2025. To achieve this aim, the study employed a qualitative research design, focusing on interviews with Grade 12 students regarding their potential college choices. Participants were randomly selected, and interviews were conducted in a manner that respected their availability and ensured comfort in responding to questions. Each session lasted no longer than fifteen minutes and centered on how students valued the GAS strand as well as their attitudes toward pursuing degree programs aligned with their senior high school preparation. Ethical considerations were upheld by ensuring the confidentiality of responses, providing participants with the assurance that their answers would only be used for the purposes of this study. The findings revealed that most respondents considered the GAS strand to be of high value, rating it as “very important” in terms of preparing them for intellectual challenges, giving them opportunities to share ideas, and enabling them to perform tasks with a degree of autonomy. The strand also encouraged them to explore degree programs such as Political Science, Education, and Psychology. Nonetheless, a small proportion of students expressed uncertainty, rating the strand as only of “slight importance.” These participants explained that while they valued the GAS curriculum, their personal aspirations leaned toward medical courses, which they were unable to pursue due to financial constraints that prevented them from enrolling in the STEM strand offered at private institutions. This situation reflects Borchert’s (2002) assertion that students should give serious thought to career decisions during their senior year of high school. In addition, the study highlighted that students’ attitudes toward career choice became more mature as they progressed into their final semester of senior high school. The completion of requirements such as “Work Immersion” and “Research, Inquiries, and Investigation” subjects instilled discipline and a sense of responsibility. The exposure to humanities-oriented subjects in GAS allowed students to engage deeply with issues concerning people, society, and human interaction. This experience shaped their realization that careers in helping professions could provide meaningful opportunities to apply the skills and values they had acquired. Such realizations reinforced the notion that career choice is closely tied to self-identity, preferences, and professional aspirations, all of which are shaped by an individual’s understanding of their skills, abilities, and inclinations (Tang, 2019). Thus, GAS was shown not only to prepare students academically but also to foster the personal growth and self-awareness necessary for making informed career decisions.