No two Ohioans’ life and career paths look the same. Every individual finds their own way. And what qualifies as “success” to one person might mean nothing to another. Ask any classroom teacher whether a one-size-fits-all approach to helping students succeed will work and they may well laugh.

But state Sen. Al Cutrona, R-Canfield, doesn’t see it that way. He introduced Senate Bill 156, which would require integration of the “success sequence” in the required curriculum for middle and high school students.

The idea is for students to be taught that the proper order in which to proceed with their lives is to graduate high school (at least), get a full-time job, get married, then have kids. In that order.

Cutrona told WOSU he believed that by doing those things “you create the opportunity for success,” and are less likely to end up in poverty.

SB 156 is supported by the likes of the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute and the Center for Christian Virtue, though Cutrona insists the success sequence is not religion-based.

Cutrona’s intentions may be good, but the rest of the state senate should give SB 156 the consideration it deserves. None.

Certainly, there are those who have (without it being part of their school’s curriculum) found their definition of success after their lives played out in a way that followed the sequence. But everyone reading this can think of those who found success after their lives played out differently.

To groom children to believe they should follow only a very narrow set of steps could be incredibly damaging to some. And, really, it’s none of the state’s business.

Should state government be looking for one more way to make teachers’ lives more difficult while limiting students’ ideas about what is possible? Absolutely not.