I’ll have a go at it:
1. We need better discipline in schools. Corporal punishment at primary grades, suspension and expulsion at the high school level or for students of that age who make no progress at a lower grade level. Don’t waste time and money on people who don’t want to be there.
2. We need to bring back tracking- segregating students by ability in order to better instruct groups of students. That way stronger students receive more challenging instruction while weaker ones get instruction they can handle. (Oh crap, I used the ‘s’ word. Too bad. Let logic prevail over whining about ‘racism’ or ‘social justice’.)
3. If we are going to have grade levels and a promotion system, then those promotions need to be strictly by meeting the criteria for passing- not socially promoted because it hurts their self-esteem or because ‘they are bigger than the other kids’. If that means we have some people dropping out of elementary school, or kicked out, too bad.
4. If we must test students for results, let it be with tests that are to measure specific knowledge- as in something that has a correct answer. And no fudging about ‘benchmarks’ or ‘correlations’ or ‘standard deviations’ or other vile claptrap borrowed from psychology.
5. We need more vocational opportunities in high school, period. Everyone cannot (and some should not) go to a four year college. The world needs plumbers, mechanics, and even janitors.
6. Math should be taught without calculators.
7. Tons of money, paper,and time are wasted on Special Education. IDEA is too costly, for too little result.
Hmm....I think I’ll stop there.
8. Math should be taught without slide-rules ~