The past year has renewed a mass of long-harbored nastiness such that it is incurable by any act of legislature or judiciary. Discord, compounding with the prominent national helplessness and the many people who cannot fully rationalize, who cannot divest themselves from ego, who feel so insecure in their ideology that they will not entertain competition. In spite of truly astounding progress in extending civil rights and liberties to all peoples, the United States has never become the sort of unassailable beacon of fairness it aspires to become. There is a counter to these two issues, the irrational fear and the looming recession of equality, through the most powerful vehicle for social change ever conceived: public education.
Forthrightly, I wish to say this: I have no quarrel with my schooling, but with the primary curriculum. The No Child Left Behind Act, in particular, created the vision of public school today: harsh enforcement of the bottom line and a disgraceful minimization in the breadth of educational opportunities, favoring standardized, quantifiable learning. Worse yet is the continuation of these standards—too much attention to a statistical bottom line neglects the actual
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Elementary schools will focus on developing interpersonal communication skills, cultivating a reverence for international cultures via language learning and cultural immersion, and predominantly, a culture of altruism spread through roleplaying activities and appropriate, school-specific volunteer opportunities. Middle School will begin what we currently see as general education (the “three Rs”), including gradually more advanced math and general science—the objective is to create intellectually malleable and well-rounded students. Overall, primary school will see a reduction in early math and science education, facilitating the development of invaluable social skills that will have broad