We all know schools go crazy over setting curriculum. But, what exactly are they trying to accomplish? More often than not, they are strictly looking to teach what’s needed in order to meet appropriate benchmarks, standardized tests, or standards of learning. Often teachers will focus strictly on the material needed for the class to “pass” the requisite exams. The curriculum seems to be crafted with the sole purpose of achieving successful marks against selected measurements.
But what else should kids really be learning today? The subject material taught in today’s schools is based on decades of educational history. Sure, the core courses need to stick around – math, english, science, social studies. What about other courses? Art, ok. Gym, sure. But, what else?
Ask yourself this – how has the world changed and how should our educational approach change to best adapt to the new world and evolving global landscape?
Here are 2 subjects which may not have been known, or been as important, when our educational system was established, yet they serve as cornerstones in today’s society.
1. Information Technology – IT is at the core of our daily lives. Every day you encounter and interact with computer systems. You never really know the extent of it until they go down or you lose power. It’s only then that you realize our reliance on these systems and the extent of their reach.
But how many people actually understand how computer systems do what they do? Every kid should have fundamental understanding of the intricacies of computers and how they work. It should be taught to our kids in school starting at an early age. Why not let our kids try computer programming in elementary school? Expose them to the inner workings of the machine. Too much of today’s technology remains hidden from our kids, fronted by slick interfaces and easy to accomplish tasks. Open this template, drag and drop that – done. But what really happened behind the scenes when they took those steps?
We should dig deeper into teaching an understanding of computers at a low level in order to allow our kids the ability to understand better when things go wrong. If a full blown immersion into computer technology can not be accomplished in the curriculum, perhaps we can at least add it to science class. That is usually where we explore the “how” anyway.
2. Foreign Language – The attitude of Americans expecting everyone else in the world to understand English needs to stop. Most other nations in the world speak multiple languages. Why should we as Americans limit our kids to only one language?
Our world continues to become more connected every day. Traditional borders are no longer limiting our engagement with people from other countries. The internet and personal access to technology has made it easier than ever to communicate with people regardless of their location. Most kids today don’t start to explore foreign language until they reach middle school or high school. This occurs after the brain has developed a linguistic pattern for a particular solitary language (English). It seems harder to adopt a new language this much later in life. Why shouldn’t we offer alternate language options at the same time our kids are sitting in pre-school and kindergarten learning English? Make it part of growing up. This will open up more possibilities for our kids and further expand a truly global community.
What would you add to today’s school systems? What skills or subjects have emerged that may not have been thought of when educational systems were first formed? What out of the box subjects would you add? For example, should we add Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) training to gym class in order to reduce the possibility of bullying? Who knows?
Would love to hear the Crazy Dad Life community view on what should be added to today’s schools. Sound off!
My wife and I discuss this all the time. I’m adamant that core life skills, home ec type stuff, should be a part of school curriculum from day 1. I’m talking how to shop for groceries, how to cook a few basic meals, how to change oil in a car, etc.
Thanks Jeff. I kinda agree, but I kinda disagree too. Wouldn’t this fall more on the parents? These seem like things that should be passed down by parents since they should be sufficiently capable to provide the lessons to their kids.
IT is something that will hopefully enter the school system soon but if not, there are many great coding camps for kids out there. Some of them are even online which means you can foster that skill at home and know your kid is learning something they can use for a career.
I agree with you. We should always look for that supplemental material out there for our kids to explore. It’s so cool there are coding camps and other avenues for them to check out.
I teach a foreign language (not Spanish) and an IT course at a large high school of 2600+ students. There are only 20 students enrolled in the IT course and 80 in the foreign language course. The students are simply not interested. Now, if I taught a course about Minecraft or how to become a video game designer, I bet I would have lots more students.
Thanks for the feedback! Do you think it’s because they feel they already know the material? Or maybe if they would’ve had it early in their education, there may be more interest? Imagine if we taught more kids fundamentals in elementary school. Perhaps some would be taking certification level courses in high school and could come out of school with industry certs and hopefully improve their job prospects a little. I would hope there would be more interest, but you might be right. Maybe the interest just isn’t there.