Education

Now, I've been in this system for 12 years and in some sort of schooling for a little over 15 years. The biggest thing I've realized about it is that this system either leaves students behind, or pushes students ahead. There isn't any middle ground where students just sit there and do exactly what is needed to graduate. Either they graduate with a host of extra credits, just enough, or none at all and no diploma to boot. It sucks, painfully, to see the the amount of dropouts and shitty students (look it up, because I don't feel like it). I'd like to change the way the education system works, though I don't see my idea as perfect.

What I say is a complete overhaul of the current established American education system. From preschool to high school (college is fine just the way it is to me).

First, daycare centers would go out of business, because they aren't doing a whole hell of a lot of teaching of kids (at least the majority aren't). I think that preschool should be a time where kids are learning things, like languages and what not. I would like to see preschool be a four year time in a young child's life. From age one, to age five they should be in an environment that are teaching them things. For example, languages. The current system teaches languages at the wrong time completely. As a child, all the child has to do is listen to someone speak the language and they'll probably be able to speak, or at least understand it by the time they realize that they can speak it. So, for four years between age one and five the child should be taught all the major European languages considering the influence Latin has had on most of them. And also the major Asian languages as well. You'd just need to have a host of people talk to these kids in all these languages and you have people that are quite multilingual as they should be.

For elementary school the basics should be taught and grammar should be brought back as a staple of education because it really hasn't been taught for the last century in America. By the end of kindergarten children should have a simple social understanding (with all the coloring and what not that's usually taught, because it's just fun). They should also have the foundation for writing set in stone, not actual writing solidified, but their foundations. You know what I mean. By first grade the children should be taught how to create writing (all the while continuing in the languages they learned in preschool). This is when grammar should start and be taught. Simple math concepts should also be introduced. How to add and subtract and negative numbers, because negative numbers aren't introduced until middle school in most places. Students should already know them at this point.

In second grade, the beginnings of multiplication and division should also be taught and continued on all throughout the year. More grammar should be learned as well as cooperation skills and work ethic in groups. Because I'm tired of one or two people doing all the work in a group of five. You might say that a first and second grader really wouldn't be able to comprehend negative numbers and what not, but that's what we're here to find out. This is also when the concept, concept, of zero should be introduced.

In third grade, more of a math-based curriculum should be instated. Adding and subtracting (and negative numbers' concepts) should be already learned in full, and multiplication and division should be solidified in this (with the addition of negative numbers), as well as continuing on grammar and writing. With that, I remember learning cursive, but I can't write it now. That should be solidified completely in the mind of the student so they know how to write it. Because it is indeed a fast way to get information on the page. I've met no one that can type faster than they can write cursive. I'm sure someone can, but not everyone can.

In fourth grade, usually fractions and the like are introduced, so we should continue this and be taught the improper fractions, negative fractions, reciprocals and the like. Multiplication of all these concepts and the rest. Blah, blah, blah. All that fun math stuff we so look forward to. In fourth grade creative writing should be introduced and a whole couple months should be spent on this concept. Creativity is an important part of learning (no, I didn't forget to mention music, that all should be in here too). The sciences should also be introduced in fourth grade...

... and continued into fifth grade, where the creative writing should be worked on again, but then transitioned into more of a technical writing curriculum. That would greatly improve writing if we didn't have to teach people this shit later when 'lethargy' kicks in (like it did in my case). This is also when geometry should be introduced, because geometry is a lot easier to comprehend than straight algebra (because shapes are tangible). With geometry should come an introduction to algebra, nothing extremely complex, just enough to ready children for middle school.

Middle school should be different too. Yes, this hellish transition period where you don't really learn anything, but don't really forget anything either.

The period system should be kept. Yes, it should. And remember the languages? Yeah, the classes should all be taught in different languages as to solidify them in the mind, and make writing in these languages mandatory.

Sixth grade should have a host of required classes. The math classes should be broken down to semester classes teaching fundamentals, not entire curriculum like they are today. Pre-algebra, and pre-geometry should be taught consecutively one semester after the other (pre-algebra first, because I'm a dick and want your children to suffer). There should be a science class as there already is but a more centralized concept curriculum, because there is, after all, three years in most middle school cases. There should be two elective periods, period. Electives are dying, and they need to stay. It's pissing me off that school systems are doing away with the arts. That's four periods, one of these should encompass a semester of physical education as it already does most places, with a semester of health education following it. The other period should be the english/study skills period, where you do a lot more writing and what not and learn to be a student.

No, I didn't forget about Social Studies, that comes later. Oh, did I also mention that this will be advanced placement pace? We aren't just going to push these kids, we're going to shove them. To weed out who really needs the 'special treatment' (which will be the same exact curriculum, but a slower pace, and a lot more explaining).

In seventh grade the social studies should be introduced. They should be a joint semester course of world history and geography (because we really suck at finding Iraq on the map).
There should be another semester of PE and health to teach all the more about the healthy stuff we require to know. Another English/writing class, because the study skills should already be learned. And the math should be at least a simple algebra/geometry course to take up a period of the year (all these still in the various languages that should have been learned). And the sciences should again strain in yet another direction from what they did the previous year. Yes, you guessed it, only one elective class this year (and next), because we need to get in a groove here. The semester electives will be the same though.

Eighth grade will be exactly the same, except you'll be in a fundamental (but with more advanced stuff) algebra class getting you ready for the specialized classes in high school. This is when social studies should be transitioned to a huge whole year class just on American history, because immigrants learn more about the US than students in US history. There should be one last period of PE/Health in eighth grade, and one more semester of sciences each straining in their own direction. Then again, the arts electives we don't have any longer.

High school! Yay! Lets party! No, lets not. We're still in advanced placement style classes, we should have weeded out all the dumbshits, so we now can get into the real work.

I'm not going to go by grade this time, I'm going by curriculum. The maths should not be one after the other, they should be specialized, because all throughout high school you should be figuring out just what you want to do. There should be specialized class sets that teach all the fundamentals of higher algebra, up to calculus and statistics and all that fun math. leading your way to a more math-specialized career. There should be a basic math system that teaches you up through the applied maths of algebra, getting you ready for a more broad spectrum career (this one will probably be the most common system taken). And there should also be another math series that is just applied math, from everything to calories, to your tax returns to banking (so you know when a ponzi scheme is coming). That class, in my humble opinion would help a lot of people be able to function as normal citizens.

English classes would run differently, there would be yet another specialized writing class in ninth grade that would do a semester of technical writing and creative writing. Your next class would be straight American literature, and your 11th grade class would be a world literature class. Your senior class would be a humanities class that is as broad as can be. Like the one I took.

Notice the languages missing? That's right, all of them are gone, and the classes are taught in all the various languages, which I think is pretty nifty. Math in Latin, health in Arabic, Humanities in Russian. Nifty stuff indeed.

Electives would contain all the general electives that are in the high schools already, woods, autos (because mechanics are fucking expensive), computer graphics/CAD, band, orchestra (symphony?). All the stuff you knew and loved when you were in high school. You'll probably get two elective periods depending upon how schools use this kind of curriculum. But I know you will at least get one.

By the way, dropouts will be shot into the blog that's below this (which I need to edit...).

I'm not done thinking about this. Because when you're mind is clear, it's free to wander.