Wisconsin Forums

[andy]

Originally Posted by JOEBIALEK

Everytime I encounter someone in the workplace, I am reminded of just how much we have failed to properly educate United States citizens in the fundamentals of communication: reading, writing and speaking.

This probably depends on the workplace. I think people that aren't currently persuing an education probably adopt more colloquial speech.

Few would argue that the time is long overdue for the United States to "get back to the basics" of a fully functional education system. We need to exclusively focus on the development of communication skills from kindergarten to eighth grade along with annual testing that measures apptitude and interest. Training in mathematics should be limited to addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Unless communication skills are fully mastered, there is no need to advance to high school.

So would you advance to high school when you are ready then, or would it still be based on age? It seems silly to hold some of the smarter kids back because they are outpacing others. I'm not sure if they still do it, but when I was a kid we always had annual tests that showed our strengths.

Also, why would you hold people back based on communication skills alone? I've had college professors with a PH.D. that couldn't communicate anything but math. Surely our educational system hasn't failed them?

I wonder how the Christians that advocate religion in schools would react if their kid came home talking about the great parts of Islam or Buddhism.

For those who graduate to high school, the emphasis could evolve into a curriculum of philosophy, sociology, economics, psychology, science and religious studies. Books such as "For Dummies" and "The Complete Idiot's Guide" could be used to foster an understanding of different religions.

That sounds a lot like our current high schools to me, except for the religious studies part. I remember dealing vaguely with religions in "Western Civ" classes, but I don't think it should be up to the schools to tell kids what to believe.

Athletic activity would be strictly confined to cardio vascular exercises and all sports would be eliminated.

Hey, guess what? Not all kids are going to be interested in their education and the only motivation they are going to have for keeping their grades up is staying eligible for the sports team. Not to mention all the intangible benefits you learn from participating in sports such as dedication and teamwork. Sports also offer a way for a community to come together and for the schools to make money.

While there would still be an emphasis on communication skills, the focus would now be on developing a foundation of basic knowledge so as to be able to graduate to college. Testing for apptitude and interest would continue through high school increasing the chances of picking the right field of study . Those not continuing on to college would enter some type of apprenticeship training for the purpose of learning a trade. For those who do graduate to college, the student would continue to study an advanced version of the same curriculum as high school but only for the first two years then they would complete their education by strictly focusing on coursework designed to train them in their field of study. Nearing graduation, internships would be required to begin the transition to the working world. Think of how different our society would be if our education system could just teach the fundamentals of reading, writing and speaking.

So you want to basically turn high schools into trade schools? If some kid's tests show all he can do is sweep floors why bother with him then?

Also, I've spent a LOT of time in college () and for the most part, you've pretty much described my experiences.

The main problem I have with your proposal is that it turns people into worker bees. We're all trained for one purpose early in life and never have a chance to deviate from whatever path the system picks for us. Kids would never have a chance to have fun and just be kids.