Paper #3 p1 - What do I think should be changed about K-12 curriculum (11/26) (DRAFT)

Public education gives the premise that it is teaching the basic education that a person would need to be able to function in society with at least the minimum of academic skills.  These skills will allow a person if they excel academically to enter into college, however many of the classes in math or English are just duplicated in college and so are effectively a waste of time that could be better spent getting other college credits. In addition many school systems do not concern themselves to teach a trade to those who may not have the; desire,  personality, mental acuity (aptitude), or time/personal management skills to enable them to be effective students and they are left to their own devices to possibly become effective members of our society after they graduate if they graduate.  The changes that I believe should be made to the K-12 curriculum are directed with those issues in mind.  A more intelligent use of high school would be to allow the students to choose their future educational goals and start working toward those goals in high school. 

Assuming that high school is; either to prepare for college, or to prepare for the job market then the academic direction (classes) a student takes in high school should be to that end.  I think that the classes taken other than basic “core” classes should depend on the; desires, finances, and aptitude of the student.  If going straight to the job market then high school should teach the basic skills that are needed in the average job that someone without a degree would be looking for.  To that end the final year or 2 should be spent in a trade school (vocational technology) or an apprenticeship for at least part of the academic day.  This is how the high school I graduated from did things.  If the high school experience is going to be for preparing for college then I think that the core college classes should actually be taught in high school and given college credit as with the running start program.  In this way if the students have learned what they should have learned by the time they get to high school they would take an appropriate placement test and take college classes at their level instead of wasting their time taking the same classes over again in college.  Redundancy in education often leads to boredom in the brighter students resulting in a lower performance level.  These 2 changes are what I would like to see across the country, and it would give students something to strive for as they would come out of high school with either a job skill or college credits.  Either of these would be of benefit to society and student, and would likely not cost any more to the school system.  I think this would have the benefit of keeping students in school longer and off the streets as they would see some value in staying in school instead of dropping out.  Secondary to the previously stated goals is that students should have a basic grasp of personal finances so I would add a math class to the curriculum to that effect.  This would prepare the students for the personal economics of consumerism in which our society is largely based.