The System
For the longest time I felt that the education system in which I was raised failed me. I was taught to take tests, not question authority, follow rules, and fit in.
It was only later in life, much after high school, I realized that tests weren’t multiple choice. That those who questioned authority were the people who were most successful. That following the rules isn’t always what’s right. And that I have no desire to fit in.
Our education system is dated. There are tons of arguments, blogs, and videos about this sprinkled across the internet. There are numerous musings about why our education system has been so static and theories on why Americans haven’t demanded change. My favorite compilation of thoughts are here (and a manifesto here) from one of my favorite authors, Mr. Seth Godin.
Revised and Updated
I’m not smart enough to participate in those conversations. What I can comment on is what I wish I would have been educated on instead of, and/or in addition to, my school experience.
A typical high school curriculum includes Language arts (literature, composition, grammar, vocab), Social studies (geography, history, government), various Math courses (algebra, geometry, trig, calculus), Science (biology, chemistry, physics), and various electives like physical education, home economics, health, typing, computers, woodworking, or art.
I’m really glad I learned about parallelograms instead of taxes. It’s really coming in handy this parallelogram season.
— Leo Blake Carter (@LeoBlakeCarter on Twitter)
As adults, most of us don’t use a large majority of the knowledge gained from those courses in our everyday lives. It’s not all a waste, but the fluff to substance ratio is backward. Memorizing specific dates and answers is a waste of time because of the internet and our instant access to all the information on the world wide web.
Some of the biggest issues facing Americans today include healthcare (over 3.7 trillion three years ago), and obesity. Those issues aren’t addressed by traditional “core competencies” like trigonometry or geography. Rather, students are possibly taught about them by “electives.” Many of which are quickly being cut from programs across the country.
Overall, we are focusing our educational efforts in the wrong places simply because that’s how we’ve always done it.
Ex. Healthcare
We’re treating symptoms instead of getting to the root cause of the problem when it comes to major issues in our country. Healthcare is a trillion dollar industry. A majority of that is spent treating problems, not preventing them. Americans, as a whole, don’t understand how to take care of themselves with diet (see the elective home economics) and exercise (see the elective physical education). How would our country and the healthcare system be different if we put a focus on this in grade school?
Keep in mind this is a hypothesis, but I predict that if we educated young Americans better on health and wellness as part of a revised core curriculum… obesity rates would go down (as would insurance costs), Type II diabetes rates would go down (providers would be freed up to give better quality of care with less patients), Americans would eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and less fast food (supporting local economies, eating less mass farmed meat and more sustainable foods – another issue we face), Americans would look to food/exercise before turning to drugs (the opioid crisis would decrease, overpriced drugs become less of an issue, etc.).
Requested Curriculum
The second and third tier consequences of education reform could be tremendous if we gave them a shot. Here are a few categories of things I wish I would have been taught growing up.
Revised High School Curriculum:
- Movement (exercise, stretching)
- Nutrition (reading food labels, vitamins/nutrients, food preparation, how to cook)
- Health (mental, spiritual, sleep, journaling, gratitude)
- Self-development (becoming a lifelong learner)
- Entrepreneurship/Work (how to freelance, how to start a business, how to act in the workplace)
- Money (taxes, how to live below your means, budgeting/saving/investing, basic accounting)
- Communication (public speaking, networking, body language)
- Technology (typing, Word/Excel/Power Point)
- Art (music, drawing, painting, writing, etc.)
- Psychology (statistics, basics of psychology and how to apply this to everyday life)
- Trades (plumbing, carpentry, etc. for children who like to work with their hands)
What kind of courses would you like to see in a revised high school curriculum?
