Originally Posted by
xenoz
The main problem is that the educational system is designed for the workforce of 20years ago. When people could be expected to have a modicum of education, and be hireable for jobs that payed a decent wage. But with the decimation of the manufacturing sector from outsourcing, the only kinda of jobs left are service, administrative, and niche technical jobs. With most students out of high school only qualified to fill service jobs. (telemarketing, front desk, cleaning svc. etc. )
To fix this, we have to do the following:
1. Change the school year. It's based on the agrarian calendar which is useless, unless you live in Ohio or Kansas. It doesn't really apply to the rest of the country. It should be two terms, evenly divided with two major breaks, one for Christmas/Hanukkah, and a small summer break.
2. Math and Science education must be paramount above all others, with fully half their education devoted to it, instead of them being added to an already crowded schedule. English, History, Music, Art, Gym. Those need to be secondary, and with the exception of English, they should be limited to student that just cannot keep up with Math/Science.
3. Which leads me to... Grade level admissions exams. No more coasting on generous teachers. If you want to advance a grade, you must prove that you know the material.
4. Some schools offer a study period... which in practical terms is a free period to goof-off. That should be replaced with an "independent study" period, where the student is required to study any material independently, with the teacher acting solely as an advisor. The difference is that at the end of the semester, they'd be required to submit some form of work. (report or project) This would teach students how to learn on their own time, instead of waiting for teacher to spoon-feed them information.