+1. The old agrarian-based school system is a relic. We're now a modern, predominantly urban society, and we have to adjust our schools accordingly. The rest of the world doesn't take the summer off, so neither can we. We could take August as a break perhaps, but any longer and kids start loosing what they learned the previous year, never mind 3 months off. Teachers now spend half the year reteaching everything the kids forgot over the long break. Plus, most kids have one or more parents who work full time, year round. Most of whom do not have the extra time, or money, to keep their kids busy over the long, hot summer. We also have to make sure that we emphasize science, science, science and more science (physics, biology, genetics, chemistry, engineering, STEM, etc...) and critical thinking! Bring back Socrates, Plato, Aristotle. We need to learn how to think properly again. No more "feelings, "beliefs", or any of this "I'm not good at math......" BS. They do Calculus in the 6th grade in Japan, Vietnam, China! Most kids in college never take it hear in the States. I love sports as much as the next guy, but while we spend time and ridiculous amounts of money on football and the like, the rest of the world, Asia in particular, have competitions in robotics and computer science. Who do you think is going fair better in the 21st century job market; a kid who can chase a ball, or one who can build and program a robot that can chase a ball? Gee I wonder. Most folks are completely ignorant of their own basic anatomy too. How many of you can point to your spleen? What does it do? (No gooogling!) There is no place in the future for ignorance and superstition of an kind. We must modernize and adapt, or suffer the consequences for generations to come. Of course, it all starts at home. It's alarming how many people don't read for themselves, to their kids, or even own a book shelf :/ For Pete's sake Cuba has 95%+ literacy rate that puts US to shame. It's embarrassing.
School is cool!
Non-science is nonsense!
