National Curriculum

So, I've been in 3 graduate classes this summer which have opened my eyes to some issues in today's educational system. First, we are not preparing students for life after high school. Second, we continue to "update" our ideas on education which tend to simply repeat ideas already tried and we never give anything a full chance at success. Third, there are too many variances in education across the nation. Therefore, I suggest a full-year school term and the implementation of a national curriculum for the elementary schools. Let's try something new folks! Let's re-focus our efforts on building educated young adults with skills in English and math. Students who can express thoughts and feelings in complete sentences. Students who know what a complete sentence is! There have been multiple theories and ideas, but this is just a thought... what if we could provide an equal education? Why can't we start in the elementary schools with a national curriculum which covers the basics in reading, math, and writing. From there, we include history and science, but you can't do either of those without the basic knowledge in the previous three subjects. I also propse a full-year school year with month vacations spread out throughout the schedule. Why not? What we're doing now isn't working...students come back after summer vacation and need a month of re-teaching activities to remember 2+2=4. I think it's time education changes its outlook. NCLB (good idea, bad plan) would be much better in a system like this. And those are my thoughts for today on that....