In our early little red schoolhouses, it was readin'. writin' and 'rithmetic...three basics that were usable in our grown up years, pretty much no matter what we were to do in those years, limited as our choices were. But along came progress and industrial and technological advances, the types of potential careers mushroomed and the school curriculums sought to keep pace. Arithmetic was thoughtlessly expanded to include algebra, calculus and trigonometry (which none but a few engineers would ever need to know, and which were completely useless to the rest of us who were to become doctors, lawyers, actors, businessmen, etc.). Reading lists were expanded to include writers who couldn't tie Victor Hugo's shoelaces, and students were made to write lengthy essays and reports befitting professional journalists.
The results were as could have been expected. Students are turned off to an education that is loaded with meaningless (to them) tripe, and school came into the full social and drug and sex playground it is today. Those few who still see school as a joy to pay attention to are often scorned, labelled nerds, seen as strange relics of a bygone day, and shunned.
As society expanded, schools had reason to expand...and could have and should have, and should now, include courses on logical thinking (something so many are woefully deficient at), how to choose a career that will be fulfilling and exciting over 50 years (and do away with the thank God it's Friday mentality), how to find happiness (something we all want), parenting (something almost all of us will do), minor automobile repairing and maintence, and the like.
It has been said that the test and use of man's education is that he (she) finds pleasure in the exercise of his (her) mind. Why oh why have we deserted the great joy of learning?
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