What sort of things should be taught in High school?

Forgive me for being a stupid humanities major, but I always thought the solution was: “Don’t eat too many cheeseburgers you fat fuck.”

Problem solved! Let’s move onto Cancer.

Can’t we all just agree that we need someone to stand up and take responsibility for our kids? Someone that isn’t us?

If everyone agreed to that statement… then there would be no one left to do anything! :hahaha;

…just saying. :stuck_out_tongue:

Also, I would normally post an opinion on the topic thread, but I’m not too familiar with the education system there in the US, so yeah… no comment!

My group project for my class for the semester is to devise a class activity to teach fifth graders something about computer security. The activity will involve envelopes with sheets of paper in them. Many blank, some with the words ‘A Virus’ printed on them. They will be passed around [STRIKE]like files on a file sharing network[/STRIKE]. This will take an hour. And there will be enough supplies for 30+ students.

This is what I remember fifth grade being like (or the little of it I was actually allowed to attend) on a good day.

As Sinistral said, high school should teach the basics of being a functional member of society.

Other than that, what you learn should be elective, with the only requirement that you learn something. High school should be like a buffet, with a wide array of course options(going beyond academics, with things like learning basic technical skills such as painting, car repair, etc., as well as other skills like cooking etc.) and it should be up to the student to choose what they are interested in. Of course you also get four years so there’s time to experiment and learn by trial-and-error, what exactly you like and are capable of.

This way, students can come out of high school and into adulthood with a good idea of their interests and capabilities, which is opposed to what goes on now, which is most people come out of high school totally confused. Furthermore, those who clearly are not capable or enthusiastic about academics will have real skills they can use, and won’t waste time or money with further study at college.

As for college, that’s a whole different topic, but I would advocate the same thing, which is basically colleges should teach a wide variety of non-academic skills, albeit on a higher level than in high school(though there should also be intro courses so that students can have more trial-and-error before actually entering the working world) academics only being an optional part of the curriculum.

That’s what “college” already means in Canada… there is a distinction between “university” and “college” in that universities are seen as academic institutions and colleges are seen as workforce-oriented institutions. I guess this doesn’t really exist in the States.

The US has community colleges where people often get associates degrees, which are like half a bachelor’s. People use these to take cheap courses to get quick trainings for simple jobs.

When you said that “…what you learn should be elective, with the only requirement that you learn something.” I have to kind of disagree to an extent. I believe that the basic fundamentals have to be taught as compulsory, by which I mean a basic level of english, maths and history (of your particular country.) Apart from these, they should adopt everything you mentioned in the above paragraph… I think that would be more efficient, as these are necessary for everyday life (apart from the history which all citizens should no a little about.)

Some of them do, but from my experience, community colleges(and I have done one semester and two summers at one) are more like “undergraduate light”. Most people seem to be going for the same academically-oriented, non-skill-oriented degrees, albeit the work and standards are much lower. And many(perhaps most) intend to use their associate degree to then complete two more years for a Bachelor’s.

Cless: Yeah, it doesn’t seem to work that way in America. High School is academic(meaning, English, Science, Math, History, etc.) Some high schools still offer wood shop and such, but nobody seems to take that seriously, as everyone has been brainwashed into thinking they need an academic Bachelor’s degree to get a good job.

I am the thread killer!

Umm, Curtis? You just posted on this thread TWO DAYS AGO. Wait a little more before declaring it “dead”. :stuck_out_tongue:

(Might as well post something related to the subject.)

I went to one of those small colleges Sin mentioned after I dropped out of the Puerto Rico University (after suffering from depression for years; long story) and got myself an associated degree in Electronics… for all the good it ever did me. (Note: I’m not bashing electronics, but rather the college I went to. Oh and there ARE good colleges around too.) As a matter of fact I’m currently trying to obtain the funds to go back and get myself a degree in Engineering.

Well, the problem is that, any kind of technical skill you learn at an Associate’s College, you could just as easily learn by going straight into a job at entry-level. In my opinion, Associate’s Degree college, at least in America, prey on working-class people who are uninformed.

They must not do a very good job at preying given the fact that it costs like $100-$200 per class versus the $1000 you’d have to pay at a legit 4 year school.

Also community colleges do make for a better alternative to wasting four years of your life in highschool.

Seventy percent of students seeking degrees at California’s community colleges did not manage to attain them or transfer to four-year universities within six years, according to a new study that suggests that many two-year colleges are failing to prepare the state’s future workforce

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_16387441?nclick_check=1

If that’s not being ripped off, what exactly is?