[Dante Hicks]

Broadly agree with some of Nod's points.

I'd aim to entirely phase out the compulsory element of education over time, but gradually enough to see the impact this had.

From what I have seen and read (combined with dim memories of the past) children want to learn when they're young. Anyone whose spoken in any detail with a child will know how relentlessly curious they are - to the point where most adults end up resorting with "Because that's how God made it" - or "Because I said so".

Attending school changes that for a lot of people. People are after all forced into an environment where they are all expected to learn the same subject at the same time in the same way. And so people's attitudes to subjects aren't based on free-experimentation of the arts and sciences but of whatever they happen to be force-fed along with thirty other kids.

In adult life - as an employee - you are afforded a reasonable amount of privacy when it comes to personal appraisals, salary, and so on. Now I do not think much of that is necessary among adults because we should all be old enough to handle these things maturely. But what's bewildering is we expect the learning process to be a public affair for children - to the point where almost every single activity you do you are scored for. Christ, even the reading material was graded at my primary school - different colours and shapes showing levels of difficulty (printed on the spine and front of the book). So everyone laughed at the girl who was on "Red Triangle Books" two years after everyone else, and yes she used to cry quite a lot. I've no idea what became of the girl, but I think it's fair to assume she wasn't left with a wonderful attitude towards the education process (and possibly learning generally).

Although the variety in talents between individuals seems vast, what seems to separate people most frequently (in terms of achieving their goals) is not talent but attitude. The current system does considerable damage to many individuals attitude to learning (and self-development generally) which is why it should be radically altered.

People should have the opportunity to learn whatever they want, whenever they want, however they want. But they should be made to learn as little as possible. Yes, there are subjects I find myself wishing everyone had a proficiency in at times. But I tend to find on reflection these skills (that I imagine I might possess) are ones which were primarily self-taught.

I did study computing briefly at school - which probably taught me one twentieth of what I learnt from mine and sb_olly's endless attempt to "hack" the school network in a similar period. I actively avoided studying computing later for fear it would extinguish my interest in the subject. So why do I imagine that everyone else will benefit from subjects which I essentially built up an understanding of outside the classroom?

But yeah, nominate your pet subjects - let's force kids to learn Shakespeare, Plato, Dickens, history, politiics, how to write a budget or wherever else your bias leans. It doesn't matter. My personal selections are "Buffy the Slayer Studies", "The History of That Time I Thought I Lost My Wallet But It Turned Out I Left It On The Table" and "Why the Formatting of Datasets Really Is Quite Important Guys". The cultural side of the syllabus will involve everyone being forced to learn to sing/play guitar like they were in a shit punk band.