Education

It's quite obvious that many of our society's ills are the result of uneducated or poorly educated people.  For a long time now people have recognized that America's education system is in desperate need of reform.  But you know how the political game works, theres a lot of song and dance and pretty words, but no one ever really comes up with anything worthwhile, or they simply fail to make the change.  But I'm here to present the way I think education should work.

A much great focus is needed on:
+ Math (it's useful and keeps the mind sharp)
+ Science (for obvious reasons)
+ Physical health (not just some half-assed gym class, but a serious and appropriate exercise program in addition to instruction/lectures on healthy eating, hygine, sexual health)
+ Music (much like Math it helps to keep the mind sharp and can open the door to other forms of creativity)

Additionally, I think educators should teach and encourage students to value traditional virtues.  And by traditional I don't mean "zomg gays are bad! etc."  I mean things like honesty and courage.  Especially from an early age, children need to be taught the values that will make it possible for them to sucessful in life.


Less focus on:
+ History (it's good to know, but there are much more important things to focus on)
+ Composition/English (certainly it's useful, but kids should be solving Math problems and doing science experiments more often than writing book reports)
+ Optional classes (things like Home Econ. and Shop Class are fine, but schools should focus more on academics).

Also, there shouldn't be any study halls or free periods.  Any free time should be used exercising or doing something useful.  (and don't argue that study halls are useful, because most kids will just screw around or go to sleep).

LUNCH:
+ No soft drinks
+ No junk food     (if you have to ask why, GTFO)


OTHER STUFF:
+ No student should be passed along if their performance sucks.  No exceptions.  They'll be tested and retested again and again until they display a satisfactory level of comprehension.
+ Teachers need to be paid well.
+ Teachers should receive a bonus or some other incentive for every student who does well in their class.
+ Uniforms for students.  It reduces social anxiety and bullying.
+ Segregation of the sexes, at least for middle school.  Kids will be more focused if they're not staring googly-eyed at whoever their crush of the minute is.

>>6
So, according to your first point, you want kids to learn the things that they should be taught at home anyway.

But I do agree with your third point very much.  Students should know a subject so well that they are able to teach it.  Actually, it might be a good idea to have high school students assist in teaching younger students as a sort of 'teaching class'.  I also agree that students should be able to discuss philosophy.  I had meant to include that in my original post, but I was posting at 4am and kind of forgot about it.

And physical really should be a priority in this country.  Have you seen how fat kids are today?  Children born in 2000 have almost a 50% chance of coming down with Type-II diabetes.  If our schoool systems don't help to keep children in shape we're going to be facing a terrible health crisis later on.
Aside from that, being physically active helps to stimulate the mind (theres a reason why the greeks stressed gymnastics, you know).  And I don't suggest that kids spend all day running laps or doing pushups.  But they do need something more serious than a half-assed game of baseball/other activity on alternating days.

>>5
Our political system is so broken it doesn't really matter what voters know or how they vote.  They'll vote for one of two parties that will really only listen to lobbiest and anyone else who has a shit ton of money.
More to the point, Americans don't really vote on the actions of the country, they vote on their representatives who make all the decisions.
Really, if anything we need BETTER history classes, more oriented toward world history rather than american history, but we don't need more of them.  Just because I said there should be a greater focus on other subjects doesn't mean I want people to be ignorant of history.  Any class a student takes should be comprehensive and involving.  I'm just saying that it would be better to have one more philosophy/math/science class than another history class.