*quality. My olive branch for winding you up.

Boosting this quality contribution up in the Hot Listing - declared quality by blankfist.

Wow, I'm sold.

"Make sure that every highschool graduate is college-ready and career-ready."

That's a point I do not share entirely. Preparing them only for college or a career leads to a streamlining effect that might turn them into efficient workers, but pathetic persons. Schools should prepare you for life first and foremost. Some classes might be completely unneccessary for your job/college qualification, but paramount to shaping your personality.

I'm only mentioning this, because our universities used to offer a decent humanistic education until they were streamlined to produce "a capable workforce" instead. Schools are transformed this way as well, spitting out assembly-line robots incapable of forming their own opinion.

^ ^ ^
I've always felt that preparing kids for non-academic 'real' life shouldn't be officially in the curriculum. It should be done by teachers and parents, surely, but more 'on the side' so to speak. Teachers should connect more with the students and not be afraid to open up to a wider range of discussions, not as an official teacher but as a wise figure the kids look up to. I don't see the need for textbooks on this stuff. Longer hours would leave more time to talk, but I'm also not happy with their use of time now. My nephews tell me their last month of school is just watching movies and light review and that they learn nothing - then they go on a three month summer holiday while the rest of the worlds students are still in school. The system needs some re-thinking.

I'm pretty happy with my education, but I really felt like it lacked a cohesive narrative tying it together.

If I were going to try an educational experiment, I would start with the top challenges of the current day, and then ease into the academics that are relevant.

I'd have gladly traded all the time we spent on Jane Austen books for a solid course on Middle eastern history (something we never touched on).

If I'd had a hard home life, I would've wanted school to provide a more obvious benefit to me, specifically by providing a clear avenue for escaping into a better life. As it is now, teachers usually just say "trust us, education will help you get a better job someday if you spend the next 10 years of your life on stuff that's boring and difficult" and keep doing things the way they always have.

It seems like in America, the motivation to learn is hard to find. I don't know how you teach curiosity, but it seems like that should be the starting point of all education -- reinforcing curiosity and the joys of discovery and understanding.

The thumbnail image for this video has been updated - thumbnail added by vaporlock.