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.

>>4
I agree knowing a lot of history is not likely to help someone become an accountant or a dentist.  Again, my justification for having children study lots of history is not so much for individual benefit, but for the benefit of society as a whole.  If you are going to lessen the burden of history lessons, I think you should make an increase in history studying mandatory for the ability to vote.  In order to have the right to vote and make wise decisions about how the government should be run, you simply must have a good knowledge of history, current events, other social sciences, etc.  We need more education in this area, not less.  Keep in mind how poorly educated and informed the american electorate is.  Do you *really* think reducing the number of social science courses in our schools is a good idea, keeping this in mind?

There are a lot of unnecessary other classes of far lesser importance than history that you should be focusing on.  To me, history is one of the few good classes offered by our schools right now, and history lessons should increase, not decrease, especially considering how poorly informed the american electorate is.