I think I'd like to see a go-at-your-own-pace structure, with fewer penalties for "failure" and more emphasis on recovering from setbacks, so students aren't afraid to try or to take risks. I'd also like to see an initiative for a two- or three-year internship program between high school and college, allowing students to work real jobs in areas of the workforce they think might be of interest before committing to additional education (so they might have thought they wanted to be an accountant but discovered that's way too tedious, but accidentally discovered that they enjoyed printer and copier repair when working with the IT department). I think real-world experiences are important and would avoid wasting time, money, and energy on a course of study that won't bear fruit.

More emphasis on research and critical thinking, less on rote memorization. More help for students with dyscalculia. And for fuck's sake, teach more than just the dates of Civil War battles in Am Hist.

1. Stop public schools (ie UK public schools, which are private schools such as Harrow and Eton) declaring themselves charities and enjoying various perks that come with the designation. Introduce taxes on public school fees, and use those fees towards a fund supporting the poorest students at state schools.

2. Create a state-funded National Education Service, run along similar lines as the National Health Service and offering free academic and vocational education for all ages.

3. Less rote, more active learning.

4. Much more funding for science and engineering, with emphasis on making science more attractive to poorer pupils and all female pupils.

5. Accept that some kids simply aren't academic. Introduce a system by which they can be taught practical skills.

6. Completely ban all religious instruction from all schools. Study of religions would still be permitted.

7. Find out why so many girls hate sport at school, and completely overhaul the system to encourage them to take part.

8. Ask teachers themselves why so few of them stick to the job for long, and what they think needs to be done to persuade existing teachers to remain and how to attract new teachers. Then do those things.

9. End the current university payments system, which prevents many students from poor (and even relatively comfortable middle class) families going into higher education.

10. Create a national anti-bullying task force able to investigate schools where bullying is an issue and enforce changes to prevent it reoccurring.

11. Replace all football fields with velodromes (that's a personal preference; I might not be able to get this one through unless I become dictator).

Free school lunches for children up until senior year. As well as a nap class. Kids don't get enough sleep.

I noticed that we teach to the test and care less about how well we actually retain the information that is presented to us. We regurgitate information on paper then forget about it the next week. Oh and making desks for left handed people more readily available. Also keeping creationism out of science class rooms because it is NOT science .

The educational system in Finland is very interesting.

Studies have proven high school kids do better work late mornings and afternoon. Quit starting school at 7:30 a.m.

Emphasis on embracing different learning and communication styles--honoring the individual child. Encouragement/celebration of imagination and independence. Smaller class sizes across the board. More consideration of students' opinions/needs/requests when discussing or implementing policy. Incorporate more life and health skills into curricula. Less time spent sitting at a desk. Rest periods. Handsome salaries and benefits for teachers. Ability to discriminate against teachers, counselors, and other staff with discriminating or judgmental attitudes/behavior.

For starters....it would be tailored to the needs and abilities of the kids.

@silvereyes Useful to whom? Ah, therein lies the problem. Again. Our colleges are forced by the government funding to focus on marketable skills. It was already difficult enough to get the young to think critically. Teaching students to interview to the job rather than to their skills should scare future generations. A liberal arts or philosophy degree is slowly being shunned as too "vague," yet that is where critical thinking is put to the test almost daily. I would love to live to be 100 because I'm so curious, but I fear what educated Americans will look like by then.

I like the ideas you have. In addition to the history idea, I would ensure that the history taught is based on fact and taught the same way everywhere. It would not be revisionist history that was made up to suit political viewpoints.

In addition to that, I would ensure that teachers are paid much more than they make now. we lose far to many good teachers to other higher paying jobs.

As for the last two or three years, I would also make sure students have better tools to equip them not just for the workforce, but also to get them started on a college career path. Eliminate the need for the standard college core credits by taking care of them in the last two years of high school. That way when they get to college they can focus on their actual career path courses.

Since popular music is so popular among the young, it has a great influence on society. Unfortunately, today's popular music is of low quality and fosters low values. It is a well-known fact that classical music fosters higher mental accuity. In my day, my fellow elementary school chums knew Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Bach, Mozart, etc. It was included in the school curiculum. It would be so easy to included this now and so benficial. I have students in their 20's who are totally ignorant of these great composers. I was shocked when a college graduate stopped me and asked, "Who is Chopin?" Please know I am a Jazz enthusiast as well as classical. My experience in all forms of music is considerable. There is good and bad in the pop field. But I still say that exposure to the great classics is fundamental.

Once public education got into the transportation business, as much as 50% of school budgets are for bussing seems so wasteful. Children waiting for busses in the early am, in the dark, on street corners, and some not getting home until evening.
Consider building schools within communities, walking distance, parents responsible for their childrens attendance, older students assisting, security provided by community activists and assisting wherever possible. Invest in more online education... at what age do most children have personal computers, laptops, tablets, cell phones... if education is so important (and it is) who else/all should be responsible for teaching?

I'd change it to be somewhat similar to my schooling for 2nd and 3rd grade. After testing at high school levels in math and science, I was taken out of my class and worked ahead at my own pace sitting next to a teacher's assistant in other classrooms. I really only had English and Social Studies with my classmates. I actually learned a lot during this time. Unfortunately, my dad was transferred during my 3rd grade year so I had to go back to the classroom where I'd be given at least a half dozen textbooks I'd already completed over the next 4 years.

no pressure, all voluntary.

lots of play.

subjects like: gardening, cooking/nutrition, arts & crafts, meditation & yoga, hiking in nature with hands-on biology lessons, sailing & swimming, free-form philosophy, drama/theatre.

all of the above beginning (as options) in primary school.

I would include in all curriculum the "Why, How, Which, Where?" discipline.

The kids will be given a number of questions / topics and they will have to find the answers (their answers) and comment on the topics given. Said answers / comments will be presented to their classmates who will, in turn, questions them "Why you reached to your conclusion? How your conclusion is more beneficial? On which facts you are basing your opinions? Why should I accept tour findings as the best ones? Where your suggestions are applicable?
After the debate, the kids -all- will have to answer / comment again the question / topics presented to them in the first place. The learning on given subjects...as well as the ability to reason... will be remarkable.

Education for the sake of warehousing kids and teaching to the test is what is done. IMO, it education has to have application and integration to the real world, not just the academic one. THis means teachers have to be creative and combine learning activy to some end, like designing and building a house, or some other marketable outcome. The arts are as important as science and everyone should parcipate in activies there too. I also like the Kahn Academy approach where students do their lecture at home and come to school to do what they learned with the teacher focused on the light going off, instead of the lecture. But these things are expensive and conservatives don't like to spend money on education, because education breeds liberals. Sad.

Two big changes...

1. Teach for mastery, not testing
2. Critical thinking is going to be BIG.

I have a creative mind and always excelled in visual and mechanical studies but I was miserable when it came to math and reading. So, they labeled me slow and "a daydreamer" and held me back in the third grade. My parents tried to paint it as a good thing but that didn't help the stigma and I learned to hate school and myself. Then I transfered to an experimental school system (this was the 70's in Minneapolis) that eliminated grading; instead, they had students work at their own levels of interests. If they needed help in certain areas, they got extra help. If they excelled in subjects, they were encouraged to continue. I learned to love myself in this school which was probably the biggest thing I got from it. We need to stop making our young people wrong for their weaknesses and begin to see each individual's strengths so we can build on that.

I went to a Free school and it was amazingly good for me -we were allowed ot work at whatever we liked as long as we were working it gave me confidence to learn for myself and to be the person I was rather than pushed into a box - I know of other people who went to free schools and our experiences were good - So I would reinvent that self learning skill.

Jail Centro Banker, and the job to the people as being the true leaders all along. The would do a better jobs than those crooked Government and bankers for sure.

Jail Centro Banker, and the job to the people as being the true leaders all along. The would do a better jobs than those crooked Government and bankers for sure.

In the US. I’d burn it all to the ground, and start from scratch.

I’ll rebuild with Sir Ken Robinson.

I would add specific training in emotions, how to cope and understand and how to respond vs react.

Here are some suggestions from me:

• Smaller class sizes
• Cease teaching to the test and allow teachers to return to composing their own curriculum
• Make the profession attractive to talented people who can truly teach
• Give oxygen to trade courses
• Real world classes, how to balance a checkbook, bank account, rudimentary taxes, general safety (don't go in a basement with outlets full of water - yes things like that should be taught.