Schools Suck - What Should We be Teaching Our Children in School?

We need to start teaching our children in schools what they and we need them to learn, not what they are being taught currently.

We assume here that the fundamental purpose of school education is twofold:

1. To produce school-leavers who will be Good citizens.

2. To develop the social aspects of children, so they become skilled in social success and the management of other people.

If there are other primary reasons for organised schooling, We would like to know them.

As it is, the goals above are assumed as primary objectives, for which every effort in schooling aims.

Now, is the current suite of education programmes acheiving the goals above?

No they are not.

Schools teach what has always been taught and is therefore thoughtless and aimless.

Education departments are run by university graduates with no life experience or philosophy of education training, lead by old teachers and bureaucrats who wallow in a swamp of group think and bland governmental education policy, itself driven by elections and sophistry.

Those with the authority and resources to produce and implement good schooling strategies are politicians and the bureaucrats who serve them. These disinterested and unskilled drones rush to the latest educational research papers and studies to present the facade of "making change" in education, but really only aim to leave their mark, their legacy.

Thus, poorly implemented experimental theories in the latest developments, or fads, in education and schooling are trialled on students every year. Every year a new "idea" is imposed upon schools, whose teachers are then forced to squeeze these squares into round holes and make it work. In the meantime, the students are flung about like a plastic bag in the wind of experimental schooling.

That's the means. Let's look at the ends.

Do we teach our children what will make them good citizens and happy individuals? No.

For example, do we teach children how to manage other people formally? No we don't.

Do we teach children how to persuade, argue, apologise rationally? No we don't.

Do our children leave school with an understanding of how the world works? No they don't.

So many requirements of having production of Good citizens and people who know what steps to take toward managing others are not met by education as it currently stands.

If we assume this to be true, let us move on to what a school should teach its students, Eight Subjects:

Philosophy, Economics, Mathematics, Science, Politics, Classics, PE and Life Skills.

1. PHILOSOPHICAL SUBJECTS

RHETORIC

Public Speaking: Argument, Apology, Delivery (Breath Control, Enunciation, Stature, Engagement, Courage).

Debate: Persuasion, Sophistry, Rebuttal, Retort, Refute, Passion vs Reason

Public Address and Policy Expression

Questioning. Interrogation. Passive Voice. Implication.

Informal Argument and Conflict Resolution

PHILOLOGY

Language development, use and misuse

LOGIC

Argument: premise to conclusion, tautology, dialectic (debate)

Theories and methods of reasoning

Articulation and expression

EPISTEMOLOGY

How we know what we know and to what degree

Claims to know

ONTOLOGY

What is existence? What is real and what is unrreal?

Reality and Metaphysics

RELIGION

Theories of Belief, Faith, Orthodoxy, Sect, Cult

Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Atheism, Animism, Totem, Humanism

ETHICS

Wrong and right. Good and bad. The Good Life. Morality.

Jurisprudence: Law, Justice, Crime and Punishment.

AESTHETICS

Theory: Beauty. Taste. Subjective versus objective. Judgment.

Practise: The Fine, Dramatic and Performing Arts (Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Plays, Dance, Music, Calligraphy), Expression (prose, verse, poetry, playwriting)

Ancient and Modern Fine Art

English Literature: Analytical reading, effective and creative writing.

2. ECONOMICS / FINANCE

Macro and micro.

Finance: trade, currency, banking, capital, securities, debt, crisis, trending, growth, recession, indicators, fiscal and monetary policy

Theories of Economics: Capitalism, Marxism, Keynesean, Adam Smith, Laissez-faire

Personal budgeting, wealth management, investment, saving


3. MATHEMATICS

Why maths matters. Development of Logic.

Arithmetic, Geometry, Trigonometry, Algebra, Calculus, Statistics

Proportion and ratio

Applied Mathematics: engineering, life-skills


4. SCIENCE

SCIENTIFIC METHOD

Observation/Experience, Hypothesis, Experiment, Testing, Proof, Evidence, Peer Review, Apology

Empirical verification and falsification

Research and Articulation: Thesis

History and Philosophy of Science

PHYSICAL SCIENCES

Physics (Quantum Physics, Mechanics, Dynamics, Statics), Chemistry, Biology

Astronomy, Geology, Meteorology, Evolution  (i.e. space, earth, sky, life)

HUMAN BIOLOGY

Anatomy / Physiology

Health and Pathology, Biochemistry

Treatment, Pharmacology

Medicine

First Aid

PSYCHOLOGY

Theories of the mind

Mental illness and treatment


5. POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

POLITICS

Types of rule/government: Monarchy, Tyranny, Democracy, Communism, Socialism, Aristocracy, Oligarchy, Timarchy, Plutocracy.

Separation of Powers: Executive, Judiciary, Legislative

Liberty and Control. Concepts of Freedom.

Rights. Authority. Representation. Rule. Participation. Law and Custom.

Current Issues: Terrorism, Globalisation, Labour Markets

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

How political groups relate. Trade, UN, Conflict and Security, NGOs, Treaty, Asylum.

WARFARE

History and Philosophy of human conflict and war

Current Military Studies

HISTORY

Empire, Colony, City States, State Sovereignty, Feudalism

Mediterranean, European, East Asia, Americas, Africa, Oceania

The Renaissance, The Enlightenment, The Reformation, Romantic Period


6. CLASSICAL STUDIES

Ancient Greek and Roman History, Politics, Society and Literature

Classic Literature Ancient and Modern

Classic Languages: Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, Chinese, Arabic, Old English, Germanic, Slavic


7. PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Mechanical, Game and Competition theory

Physical exercise to develop cardiovascular, musculature fitness, endurance, toughness, adaptability

Martial Arts and Self Defence

Sports: team and individual

Talent discovery


8. LIFE SKILLS

Isolating subjects already studied above, but applied to individual living.

E.g. budgeting, law, politics, health, career, relationships, maths, economics, rhetoric

Domestic Skills: budgeting, cooking, service provider management, maintenance, planning

Consumer Awareness: consumer law, smart buying, due diligence

Substance abuse, addiction, vehicle driving, health maintenance, friendship, sex education, conflict resolution, crime, social media.

How the immediate society works:

City Planning, Local Government, Policing, Council Services, Energy Distribution, Traffic, Education, Health, Social Welfare, Industry, Housing, Labour Markets

People Management: How to engage with people to meet individual interests balanced by good citizenship: conflict resolution, relationship development, character vs persona, influence and persuasion, stress management, applied sociology and psychology.

Social Media: pros and cons, identity protection, predators and trolls, mental health, networking, online communities, freedom of expression vs social responsibility

Conflict Resolution to include: bullying, harrassment, passive aggressive, situational awareness, disengaging and de-escalating, support networks, negative discrimination, mindfulness.

STRATEGY

Strategic thinking, Planning Ahead, Implication

CAREER DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING

Individually tailored programmes, further education, career options and work experience

Engagement from industry

Job searching, application writing, CV writing, interviewing, career planning

Managing disappointment


PHILOSOPHY

Not itself a subject, but an overarching and fundamental intellectual activity, to be applied across all Subjects. The philosophical method will be taught prior to each philosophical subject.

The children able to learn these subjects are most likely to succeed in understanding from 12 to 18 years of age.

Six subjects at one 50 minute lesson each per day, with all eight subjects spread over two weeks.

Teachers should be taught philosophy, as fundamental to their training.

If our children studied the subjects above, they would become better citizens than if they were taught only the current suite of subjects.

Some will argue this is way too much to learn and teach. Firstly, if you list the hours of subjects currently taught and then remove all the useless lessons, you will see a large gap in which to fill with many of the new subjects above. Secondly, the subjects above can be taught at a basic level, with the teacher focussing on the "gist" of each subject, rather than spending hours on details.

Thirdly, students should be taught the application of each subject in their life, and thus will continue the lessons out of school, as each subject makes an appearance in various situations they face in the course of their daily activities.

Therefore, the teaching method should be to introduce an idea and the student will fill in the details as they mull over them during the lesson and out of school. As each subject has a practical application in life, the student will conduct their own internal lesson, elaborating what they have learned in the course of their daily activities. Outside of school, the student becomes their own teacher, having been taught the skill of self-learning during school.

Some will argue life skills are the responsibility of parents not schools. We refer them to the notion that it takes a village to raise a child, not just two stressed out, time poor, under-skilled parents.

Since we all live together in a society, living under the same limitations, rules, opportunities, strengths and weaknesses, it follows that we all have a responsibility to look after each other as best we can, not just our kin. This is what makes the basics of a good citizen.

If a clod of dirt be washed away, the earth is as much the lesser.