If I ruled the world...

Just for a minute let's assume that we have landed on a new undiscovered country ( and we haven't kicked out or killed off any indigenous people!) and we have to create from scratch a system to educate our children. We have complete free dom to decide what they need to know to be successful in this new world. The first important rule is to forget eveything we have known about how education has been done before. You see, I think we've been doing the same thing for so long that we haven't been able to let go of long held beliefs about what a complete education should include. Isn't education supposed to prepare children to function successfully in the world as adults? So what do they REALLY need to know?
First and most importantly I think we put too much emphasis on fact learning and too little emphasis on skill learning. I once worked for someone who was fond of saying that he didn't need to know everything, he just needed to know how to find out everything. That has really stuck with me. If you know how to seek out the right person or resource you can pretty much find out anything you want to know. The internet has absolutely brought that reality within everyone's grasp. I remember being absolutely astounded when I first ventured onto the internet highway and was able to view the Louvre in Paris and take a virtual tour. I was even more wowed that I could click onto live action cameras just about anywhere in the world. Not that I think the Grand Canyon wouldn't be more impressive in person than on a 12" monitor but at least I can surf the net for which places I want to see, get other's opinions and recommendations, make reservations for planes, cars and hotels and plan an entire itinerary from my living room. So the first rule for my new education system is ...
make every subject a search and discover mission
followed by...
teach students how to search intelligently and evaluate the crap from the cream on the internet.

I think the current accepted curriculum spends too much student time on learning knowledge they will never use in any practical way. Let's go back to the indigenous tribes for just a minute. If you were to observe the Bushmen of the Kalahari, for instance, you will find that they teach their youngsters hunting and shelter skills. Basically survival knowledge that will help them as adults. We need to do the same things. Certainly the requirements of knowledge for a 21st century adult in North America or any industrialized nation are going to be somewhat more complex but they still boil down to survival. In some instances we actually DO teach some of these skills in the classroom in spite of the fact that parents of our students do not see it as survival skills. We give students group work that requires organization, teamwork, accountability, negotiation, problem-solving and results oriented products. A really good teacher will help teach these skills rather than just throw a project at the kids and then step back to watch the fur fly. Unfortunately, parents get all up in arms over these projects because their child...
A) Did all the work
B) Had a lower grade because someone else did not do their fair share
C) Everybody on the group was mean to them
D) Nobody in the group would listen to their ideas

...and on and on. So in my perfect world the next law of education would be..
Each learning experience will involve a group effort that has results that mimic real life.

Along the same lines, there is not a child I know who hasn't hated Algebra and wanted to know why he/she had to know it. I agree. I mean, I know there are scientists out there who couldn't do their work without it. There are also scientists who cannot sit through an art or music class without wanting to run screaming from the room. At the risk of sounding a bit like a Montessori disciple I think my next rule should be...
Let students follow the path that their interests lead them.
Students who are scientifically oriented will pursue math concepts because they need them to complete their scientific pursuits. Art students will want to know more about form, texture and expression because their interests take them there. Think about the indigenous people again. The indian who was really gifted and creative with basket weaving would simple barter his fantastic baskets for a piece of venison from the adept hunter. And to refer back to the group effort, wouldn't students doing a group project that needed some math skills go and seek out the student who could provide those skills?
There are a whole list of other things that youngsters need to learn in order to be successful. Things like how to understand a contract, how to drive, banking skills, how to complete a tax return (although I keep pushing for an elimination of the IRS!) and so on. I think we could come up with a list of really necessary skills, but they would all start with "Here's how you find the information you need". And if nothing else maybe we could raise kids who had a can-do attitude. They would all enter adult-hood knowing that anything they wanted to know about was at their fingertips..if they just go looking for it.