If you could devise a course to be taught for one semester at a high school level, in all public schools, what would it be? It can be absolutely anything. You don't need to be an expert in the subject yourself, you could recruit people to help devise the course. Art? Religion? Politics? Basket-weaving? Let's hear some creative ideas! As many details as possible!
Okay but you can't plagiarize from that Dave person. What would be your main points, or activities, or assignments?
This is probably one of the most practical ideas. There are way too many kids out there who enter the "real world" with no concept of how things work. They end up blowing their cash, building up credit card debt, and getting themselves into trouble. Then they cry to their parents and ask for help.
Basic Mechanics/Carpentry/Plumbing A class that teaches you how to do things like: change the oil in your car, unclog a drain, tune-up a lawnmower, fixing drywall, and random other things that you will probably need to know at some point in life. I realize some high schools have shop classes, but I would like an all-purpose class that teaches you a variety of basic things, and I would make the class a requirement for graduation.
Learning and Understanding Interpersonal Relationships: A course on how to interact with your peers, superiors, and subordinates in a professional manner We need this one in schools right now... badly need this one.
You get it, and I wasn't referring to "that Dave" person. People should know, by age 20, how to balance a checkbook, pay bills, and understand cash flow as well as the basics of investing. Absolutely brilliant. Sadly, many schools have done away with such programs to focus on test taking and "feel good" programs. Oh, and contrary to what people might think, both above activities can be fun. There's nothing like when people can learn how to do things they thought overly difficult or impossible. A sense of accomplishment is very gratifying.
Some kind of course which helps to prepare the child for adulthood. They would get taught about the importance of eating well and exercising. They would be taught about how important it is to treat other people with respect. How to manage their money. They would be encouraged to think about what they are going to do after they leave school, and they would be provided with the advice they need for the next stage of their education etc.
Personal finance, like Picard said... teach kids how to budget their money, balance a checkbook (not that people still do that), how credit cards work, basics of the stock market, investing and saving for retirement, filing income tax returns, all that good stuff that students leave school clueless about. I think it would be a good class for junior year students so when people turn 18 it will be reasonably fresh in their minds.
^Yeah. High school needs to spend less time preparing people for college and more time preparing people for LIFE.
Meditation classes. I think, in our very busy modern society, people shut out their own needs to cater to the demands of the moment. Teaching meditation classes would equip young people with the ability to focus on their own inner well being, which would increase awareness, critical thinking and possibly even lower some blood pressures and stress levels.
^Eh, formal logic isn't going to be accessible to many students. It's hard enough for math majors. But at least propositional calculus should be covered. Actually, that would be a good one. I just figured out what a stock option actually *is* recently.
American Sign Language, Personal Finance and Newborn Baby Care. Maybe if teenagers had an inkling as to how difficult it was there might not be so many teen pregnancies.
I'm in favour of experimental, think-for-yourself, applied learning, over strict book and blackboard stuff. So I'd try to devise a project that allows children to explore the full breadth and depth of their intellectual and creative talents. There may be a difficult objective set by the teacher, and the project is to try and reach for that objective. The teacher would oversee the group and help with the allocation of tasks for the kids, but the kids themselves decide what the tasks are. It would also be up to the kids to coordinate all the separate parts of their project themselves, and bring them all together as the project progresses. The teacher can regularly take time with book and blackboard stuff to teach the group what they need to know in order to explore the ideas they have as they emerge. There can be a great sense of achievement that this difficult task was tackled through skill and cooperation.
I'd also have a history course. I was watching The Weakest Link earlier, and this boy thought that the Battle of Trafalgar was in 1815. People should be taught about their own history.
Actually, I changed my mind: sex-positive sex education. Thorough education about birth control, family planning, safe sex, and STDs. None of this abstinence bullshit. Condoms, dams, IUDs, abortions for all. People need to be indoctrinated with reproductive knowledge, rights, and responsibility.