Education System Improvement
by kathy@truthisbetter.org

Require Foreign Language study beginning in kindergarten.

Study of a foreign language has many benefits. It enables students to understand math and science because learning a foreign language requires expanding one's thinking to learn new concepts of a foreign culture. It enables students to understand the structure of language, including their own, better. It increases understanding of other cultures. Have Spanish-speaking students help teach English-speaking students to speak Spanish and vice-versa.

Require a year-long high school Law Course

It is necessary for persons living in our litigious society to know how to protect themselves in the current "Justice" system. Common sense, self-discipline, and morality are not enough protection in today's legal procedures. Today the legal system is often administered unjustly and used for unethical ends. The common citizen needs to know how the legal system works, how to protect himself, his rights under it, its costs, and so forth. Perhaps history or social studies teachers could learn and teach this course or, lawyers can become teachers.

Improve Mathematics instruction

Responsible Behavior Courses in Middle School

It is imperative to teach the concepts of responsible behavior because it is not being taught in every home and not being demonstrated in the media or by all of our political leaders, sports heros, actors, and so forth.

The most important person we each have to live with is ourself. To be successful, we must be truthful to ourself and perceive reality as clearly as possible. Every one has strong feelings and urges to do or say things that we should not. We all control our own words and actions. Although feelings and some times thoughts are not under our control, our own words and actions will have influence on our own feelings. It is acceptable for anyone to have strong feelings. Ability to feel strong emotions is correlated with high intelligence. Thoughts can be controlled, supressed or redirected with focus and self-discipline. Responsible behavior is behavior that we can be proud of afterwards, no matter what anyone else does or says to us and no matter how we feel. A responsible person, besides controlling his/her own behavior, must when possible, speak out or take action to prevent him/herself or another from being taken advantage of or being abused.

Mind altering drugs or substances negatively impact our own abilities to perceive, to control our own thoughts and feelings and hence diminish our own control over our own words and actions.

If we point the finger at someone else to justify our own behavior, it is a sign that our behavior may not be responsible. If we must invent untrue stories to justify our own behavior, it is a certain sign that our behavior is not responsible.

A responsible person can tell the truth about events. It is necessary to tell the truth in order to find solutions to human problems. None of us are perfect and we all make mistakes, so we have to apologize and forgive ourselves and forgive others when we make mistakes.

Any subject teacher could be assigned to learn and teach this course, giving it an emphasis in their field because basic reading, math logic, research, writing, and speaking skills would be in play.

Interpersonal Communication

There is no more important skill for success than ability to communicate both interpersonally, to groups, and in writing. Interpersonal communications, listening skills, and Toastmasters for teens needs to be taught in high school. Perhaps the English teachers could learn and then teach listening and speaking skills.

Culture and Religions

An overview of perhaps 12 cultures and 12 religions needs to be taught, so that students learn about other points of view and cultural practices. Invite guests from each cultural or religious group to speak to the class and answer questions. It might be possible to take field trips to local cultural exhibits, take a summer vacation to another country, write letters or email children the same age from another country, cultural, or religious group.

Environmental Economic Content

Every decision we make every day in every level of society has its environmental effect. A course that asks how to conserve all the facets of our environment in meeting our human needs and wants on every level of human functioning from personal, to family, to school or work, to city, county, state, federal, and international has to be asked and interwoven into course content beginning in elementary school. By intersecting the sets of 1) Human Needs, 2) Levels of Human Functioning, 3) Environmental Elements, and 4) How, what, why, when, where, who questions, thousands of questions to ask and discuss are available.