So in middle school I was taught at ACE school of tomorrow. ACE or Accelerated Christian Education school had a structured system which I loved. Each student had their own cubicle and their own books. Which I believe were in 5 or 6 categories. English, Social Studies, Science, Word Building and Math. Now the books were numbered so if you finished english 1001 you got English 1002 and so on. And you had complete freedom which books to study. So I always was 2 or 3 books ahead in Science then the others. Now I want to describe what I thought where the pros and cons of that system.

Pros:
You get to study by yourself, without people bothering you.
If you need help the teachers are always there to provide one on one help since they are not actively teaching.
The books from grade 1 to grade 12 had characters in them that described laws or rules. These characters grew with you so you developed a sort of familiarity and fondness to them. Which gave the subjects a little life.
You can study the subjects in any order and at your own pace. (I'd study nothing but my science book for 2-3 days straight because I didn't want to study the other subjects)

Cons:
The system is Christian based so every book had a Bible quote at the beginning. Replacing a Bible quote with a philosphy one would be a great idea.
Heavy christian influence in the books. (For example saying: evolution was done by GOD so GOD is not wrong)
No possibility for group projects or working with others.
No arts as I recall.
No music classes either.

That's all I can think of concerning ACE. But there are a few more things that I wish were taught in schools:

For example some kind of life philosophy courses (I think my highschool didn't have any)
Maybe some basic psychology/sociology course.
Personal finance course. Not a business course, we had those. What I want is something that can teach kids how to invest and maybe save taxes. Because I'm teaching this to myself right now since I don't think relying just on your job is good enough anymore. And you need to invest and save correctly.
Some kind of spirituality course maybe.

The students I think need enough philosophical/scientifical background to understand life, who they are, and what they want. But they also need practical skills to acheive those things. And I'm not talking about skills that get you a job. While those are important they also need skills that can help them make money and live without a job.

There are certainly some merits to that system, but I would not under-value the dialogue and inspiration one can get from a decent teacher either. I think a good balance between studying by yourself (and one on one help) and group discussions should be maintained. Not only do they (the group discussions and lectures) provide additional input in a dynamic fashion, there is also the element of social interaction in an academic context that plays a role here.

Education and learning is such a vast area I think it is very important to move away from the idea that it is something that is only done in schools or universities, and generally ends when one leaves these institutions... What we should develop first is a sense of perpetual and incessant (got to love these redundancies) learning, and instil this into children and adults alike, so that every situation can be used for the education of the mind. Maybe then the idea of learning and school will become less of a cumbersome notion but rather an inspiring one...
Maybe the development of a better educational system would be easier from that standpoint... I don't know...

cheers
Enoon

You know how in highschool you have mandatory reading of certain books for english class. Like Shakespeare or the one I remember was Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Now personally I found Shakespeare boring at the time and Things Fall Apart thrilling, while the majority of class found both boring But in ACE we had no required readings because they were not included. So my teacher used to give me John Grisham novels. And I loved them so much that I'd devour them within a couple days. I believe it's thanks to her that I have a love for books. If it wasn't for her I would'nt have read a single book outside the ones that are mandatory in highschool and university. So maybe at first it's not as important what one reads as long as he/she reads it with enthusiam, and once the love for reading is cultivated then more scholarly and harder to read books could be assigned?

We shouldn't teach great books; we should teach a love of reading. - B. F. Skinner

Wow, Endlessness, I think we're on the SAME page...You are correct in what you say, and I am very content in knowing that slowly but surely the educational systems will evolve as we all are at this wonderful time in human history where it looks like we are actually anchoring the new consciousness...it's WORKING! ...So in response to this very insightful post, I will post my father and I's educational website, which actually confronts the issue of breaking free from the repetitive, monotonous programming and presenting a step-by-step process in which the student is continously tested while reading throughout the passages to insure absolute break-down and retention of information, as opposed to skimming for answers. It is wonderful to find a community in and within the Nexus, in which good humans can share their ideas and ideals for a brighter future, considering our species is at the "evolve or die" moment in history..... here's a link to the site! www.studiesinmeaning.com

Excellent topic.

Ideal Education...Hmm I think that should include;

-All schools should be deprivatised and made accessable for everyone, regardless of their budget or psychological/cognitive condition.
-To stop excluding people with Attention disorders (ADHD, ADD, Autistic disorders, Dyslexia, Dyscalculy) from education
Give everyone the chance to study at their own pace;
Freedom to decide how fast & how often you want to study and to take rest/leasure time when you feel it's needed.
No stress and deadlines, No limit of specific amount of years in which you HAVE to finish your study. Take 3 years, take 10 years.
Whatever is nececairy for the individual to study most efficiently & live psychologically/emotionally balanced.

-Education relavant to Human survival;
* Extensive education of agraculture should be emphasised. Teaching people how to grow their own plant-foods and
how to care for livestock. This way, give people a garden & some community gardens and they're able to provide their own foodsupply. Goodbye foodmarket.
* Basic electronics, mechanis and engineering is very good to teach people. They are more likely to make & fix broken electronic & mechanic machines/equipment
themselves. Goobye technological dependance on the market.
* Medical/Medicinal education is off course very important. I think Healing Shamanism should also be optional to study. Amazonian, Mexican and Peruvian Shamans
could teach about ayahuasca, peyote and Mushroom and mechanisms of healing to be added to the body of western medicinal/Psychiatrical knowledge.
This additional knowledge and way of reasoning could compliment western knowledge/approach of Physical and Psychological Medication and Treatment models.
Goodbye crooked Pharmacuitical industries.

I have felt for a long time that our education system here in the UK is inherently flawed.
I would try to summarize it myself but I found this brilliant TED talk that explains many of the problems much more eloquently than I ever could.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

My friends and I always considered school a joke, especially once we got to high school. We were learning the same things my senior year that I learned in fifth grade. It's definitely a perfect example of, "dumb public school down to make the idiots not feel like idiots." I don't think it is even that these people are idiots; it is more of a lack of motivation from the teachers. It is ridiculous when you talk to an English major, and they can't even form a grammatically correct sentence. Then again, if you are smart enough to be a teacher, you probably know that you are smarter than $20,000 a year in one of the most hated jobs in America.

In an ideal system, we would hold our teachers to a higher standard than we do now. After all, they are given the ultimate responsibility of bringing up the next generation. Teachers spend more time with the children than a lot of the parents do. It's sad really. Which brings up the next point, that a lot of parents don't want anything to do with educating their children. They pawn them off on an overloaded public school system and only get involved when a new radical idea comes along that they don't like. It's no surprise that teachers get burnt out so quickly.

But enough bitching...
So, we would hold our teachers to a higher standard. They should have to go through a bit more of a rigorous training than other professions. Again, they have a huge responsibility that we do not want to trust with just anyone.

I still think that academics is the way to go in the school system. I would make music and art more of the curriculum than it is now. I think teaching kids to be self-sustainable should be done by the parents; the school system can't do everything. Although, I do like the idea of a staggered system versus the fixed grade system we use now. For example I was reading college level books in sixth grade; I shouldn't have been forced to go through a sixth grade reading class. Which actually was like third grade English...
I wasn't trying to brag or anything in that last sentence; I just know first hand what it is like to be held back from your potential. We had a program called "Explorers." It was the "gifted class." We had it once a week so every Tuesday, four of us would get together and do appropriate learning material. Once a week is nothing close to what we needed...

It was also apparent that I had an affinity towards math. I like how someone mentioned different tracks so if that had been implemented I would have gotten more math and science classes. I think I was told in a Spanish class that the schools in Mexico do something like that. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think kids went through middle school on the same level, but once they were in high school, they started learning for their careers. I may be mistaken on that, but still it would be a cool idea to start learning what you need to know sooner. Maybe that would even give kids a better motivation. I know that if I could have taken classes pertinent to what I wanted to do as a career, I would have made school a more serious affair.

Now that I think about it... maybe you could implement a class that teaches self-sustainability. Don't split it up, but as children age, give them the common sense knowledge that is lacking in the West. Maybe when children are young, let them plant various herbs teaching them how to keep a garden. Then as they are able to understand more, teach them the medicinal properties of the herbs. Get more advanced as they age.

It is crazy that we are using the same system we were using pre-Civil War. It isn't enough for kids to learn basic math and reading skills anymore. Like you guys have already mentioned it is time to evolve!

I used to joke that everything I learned in school was the result of me teaching myself outside of school. Teachers are just too preoccupied dealing with the "regular" children to help the "gifted" ones advance further.

Someone mentioned the social consequences of being home-schooled... I am more socially awkward than most of the home-schooled kids I know, and I went to public school my whole life. It was apparent to me, during grade school especially, that I was on a different level than everyone else. I just didn't fit in. Whether it was because I was intelligent or was just weird is beside the point.

I wanted to contribute a decent post, but I think I ended up just rambling.

I think my biggest point I want to make is that no matter how much we rely on a school system, ideal or not, it is still up to us to teach our children. Isn't that the best part of being a parent? Teaching your offspring everything you have come to find out in this life...
Western civilization has taken away the time we could and should be spending with our own children. The best thing we could do is get back to a place where we can teach our kids sustainability or whatever else we want. Sure academics is best left to the system in most cases, but academics don't mean a thing if our kids do not have the motivation to learn and apply it to life. Children are lost in the dark without the love of their parents.

More rambles... but I hope I made a little sense in that last paragraph. Maybe I should think these things through before I start typing.

I believe critical thinking, as oppose to the computer-like learning of facts, is a positive direction to take. We have computers for facts now. Of course, practiced knowledge is different. A doctor would be better at heart-surgery than a mechanic for example. However, teach everyone basic car maintenance, and the mechanics could be artists!

I see no benefit in churning out facts, that have been placed on the syllabus with, no doubt, some kind of political agenda (reinforcing neo-imperialism, history written by the victors etc). People should be encouraged to seek their own knowledge, rather than being chucked a textbook and told to 'memorise that'. That way, they can be a productive member of society that is based on their own interests, and by extension, their strengths.