Something I'd like to see

[andrewducker]

A list of facts (or groupings of facts) learned in schools, and then a percentage, for each one, of how often they were used in the last year (by a large, varied, sample of the population).

Not that I think that teaching ought to be based entirely on utility, but if we could at least quantify that utility then we could look at the bits that aren't actually useful and start the argument over whether they're worthwhile on other bases (artistically/culturally worthy).

Comments

[girl-onthego.livejournal.com]

My uncle's old school did this, and were more geared toward teaching "skills" than "facts" as a result. Bravo them.

He told me recently that our education model (in the US) is still based on a pre-world-war-one model for an agrarian society.