In the US, I would make history part of the standardized testing done by states and make it part of SAT/ACT tests. Too often it’s a neglected subject even though there are many valuable lessons from it.

Same with government class. People need to understand how government works, how to get involved, how to vote. Make high school students attend a court trial one week as part of their class. Make them vote in a mock election using the actual voting equipment used in elections.

I think it helps to stop thinking of the subjects as silos. I teach science in a way that calls on writing skills (and I throw in lots of history of science references).

I’ve worked with students on all subjects and grades. In my teaching, the best experiences I have had have had two features:

1. small group size (working with a kid one on one is god tier - today me and student ended up chatting about video games, and I got to talk about the historical context of the Assassin’s Creed series/how Dragon Ball is inspired by the Journey to the West)

2. teacher autonomy - being able to pivot from curriculum that doesn’t work, being able to work with students to accept multiple forms of representation

I think both of these factors are the root problems. It’s not about “what” we are teaching them, it is that we are herding them through school buildings like cattle and flashing “educational content” at them through laptop screens. Switching the videos they are watching isn’t going to fix the problem.

Like, when it comes to learning to read - it does not matter what the kid likes to read. All reading is good reading. You build your curriculum around books they like and engage with. If you build reading skills, so much of the rest can follow.

I would have elementary logic in high school. Anyone who knows reading/writing/arithmetic is ready for logic so it can be done when they are ready for algebra. I would also have senior year science be done in journal club format where a students present at least least one paper a semester and tests are given over all papers presented (which of course all students should be reading before the presentation.)

I wouldn’t. I’d hire someone to do it who has deep understanding on the subject.

1 - Critical Thinking

2 - World History

3 - Civics

4 - Apocalypse survival skills (If the first three don’t make a dent)

5 - Everything else (if there’s time)

1 Critical thinking

2 Healthy relationships

2 Cookery

3 Exercise

4 Arts & Engineering

5 The usual subjects

4839 AI (or whatever the industry du jour is.)

I’ve been done with education for longer than I’ve been in education.

I hope kids nowdays get a well rounded education that is not just the bare necessities of read/write/count but if I had to make a choice I’d prioritize STEM over humanities.

I’d rather live in a boring world with too little music, literature and art where my car works and I’ve got water in the tap than the opposite.

Financial literacy would be considered an essential subject.

How to Spot Propaganda 101

To quote Alvin Toffler:

The new education must teach the individual how to classify and reclassify information, how to evaluate its veracity, how to change categories when necessary, how to move from the concrete to the abstract and back, how to look at problems from a new direction—how to teach himself. Tomorrow’s illiterate will not be the man who can’t read; he will be the man who has not learned how to learn.

I think I’d keep a lot of the core stuff, esspecially at lower levels, but at mid levels, I’d try and put a lot less emphasis on academic work, and more on practical implementation of those skills. For example, in place of a study of shakesphere, I might put a lesson on how ads are written. The point would still be to encourage better media literacy, but ads are something we see constantly in the modern world, and require an emphasis on critical thinking most literature analysis ignores. Another example might be a reduction in the amount of math classes, but requiring a skill that uses math practically, such as woodworking or 3D modeling, to try and practice logic and problem solving off-the-page.

Ideally, this would help cover a lot more real-world skills, and give students a chance to try a broader range of fields earlier, as well and encouraging a deeper and more applicable understanding of the underlying skills meant to be taught.

Tech literacy, and Information Era awareness and knowledge of scams and false information.

The amount of people getting scammed or download malware is just crazy.

Based on my experience and that of my own kids, what worked and didn’t:

Kids are all different so there is not one plan that will suit them all! In general though - K-6 should be half day of academics, half day of electives and free time, they just need to learn to read and do math comfortably, understand the idea of variables and some basic science about the physical world. Grades 7-12 should have science, literature, maths, art of some sort (kid choice - dance, music, visual art, creative writing, something that makes them think in a different way) and some learning about the world in a cultural sense - political geography, history, government styles. Some sort of physical education too - dance or sport for those able, health and gentle movement education for those who are not able, everyone should learn to maintain their bodies not just their mind, they are connected.

The kids of mine who went through the “IB” here got by far the best education of my offspring, but they were also the most naturally academic of the lot so it suited them, understand? The others would just collapse in the face of a program like that! You can’t just force everyone into the same shape.

I would teach critical thinking, probability, empathy and logic more

If religion is going to be involved, they all need to be included equally