We talk a lot about curriculum. Which subjects are necessary, which are there seemingly only to torture us, and which are purely for professional development. So what courses should be on a curriculum? How do you decide how to spend a child's formative years in regards to learning, what should there be more of, and what should there be less of?
I might accidentally be biased towards social sciences, for that is something that I am passionate about, so you are now forewarned.
I have previously outlined what I think the purpose of school should be. In short I think it is educations job to create critical thinking, employable at any moment in time (meaning at any point after high school graduation) people who are well-informed about not just government, but the workings of society. In the following paragraph's I will not necessarily outline a specific curriculum, that would take a 7,000 page government document, but instead I will pitch some ideas that I think should be a focal point of public education at some place and time.
One thing I noticed about education is, yes, they do spend some time in first grade teaching you about money, and counting it, but have you never noticed they never teach you about money management? Without my parents, I would never have understood what I was getting into by creating a bank account, I would never have understood what an interest rate or credit score was, shouldn't this information be available to those that have not so dedicated parents? Personal finance should be taught in high school, more specifically money management. How to set a budget, how much you should be spending on your living space, the benefits of renting, the benefits of owning. All these things should at some point be discussed.
Understanding political platforms is under written as well. It is hard to be objective about this one, however. It would be hard to determine what is taught in this class, but there is far too much mis-information about public policy, how it is made, and what the major parties actually mean. For example, I guarantee that if you go into a public school high school classroom, at least half the students in the class will be under the impression that the "Independence Party" is the same thing as being an independent, or "blank" voter, not realizing that the party endorses political candidates and has a platform. We're taught how a bill becomes a law, we've all seen the video, but we really have no idea...what the video doesn't explain in song are earmarks, bargaining, the ulterior motives that politicians can have- especially ones that represent small communities that have just as much power as those who represent large ones. There are a lot of things that are simply glanced over when American Government is taught in public school, instead we can all recite the fact that there are two senators per state, and the number of representatives is 2 + a number determined by the population. If people would like to consider themselves so dedicated to one party, they should understand what they really mean.
Basic medical science. And I'm not talking about cell-biology or organic chemistry here, I'm talking about what to do in the event that something happens. How to treat an open wound, stuff like that. I know this comes out of left field, but the only reason I know to put pressure on open wounds that are bleeding out is from television. People should be taught what to do in emergencies, or better yet, small emergencies. We should also know the processes at work when something heals, so we can fully appreciate what is occurring. Students should eventually learn what exactly a scab is, how a broken bone mends back together, why certain breaks need metal plates, etc. What exactly is cancer? What exactly are the treatments for it? Why do we need a different flu vaccine every year? The story of how we cured polio is one of the most intriguing of the past century, and I didn't even learn it until a very specific college course about what life was like in the 1950's. Things like this can spark interest in medicine, in science, and in learning about yourself. All good things.
Those are just three suggestions, there would undoubtedly be more, but at the same time I don't think a lot of these would be included by some of the first and foremost curriculum experts. Teaching people how to literally live and navigate a world where a large portion of people are trying to get "theirs" would be beneficial to everyone.
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