checking barrels #5

This study continues.

Courses & Topics:

1. Get out of debt and stay out of debt. Children need to be taught how to manage their money and what they should expect to pay for various things like food, lodging, transportation, clothing, and supplies for work or home. They need to understand how debt reduces their mobility and makes it harder to build a reliable safety net so they can deal with unemployment, illness, family trauma, and other setbacks that life will throw at them. They need to understand what they'll earn for various kinds of work and how much of that money they'll get to spend vs. lose to taxes and social insurance payments.
2. Learn how to fill out a fairly complex Form 1040. This teaches them a lot of practical math as well as giving them an understanding of how income is earned, how our society treats various forms of income (and why), and how much money we send to the federal government. This should be supplemented with a study of how much money local, state, and federal governments spend, and on what.
3. How to write and read a great résumé. How to prepare for and conduct a job interview. How to present oneself effectively to others, and what to look for when observing another person. This gives not only a basic grounding in good communication (both written and verbal) but also some basic psychology.
4. A class I'd call “Civics”: how to read a voter's pamphlet, research the candidates and issues on the ballot, and form an opinion on whom to vote for. Also cover the voter registration process and how and where to vote on election day. If possible, generate a good debate between people who support issues and candidates on multiple sides of a ballot.
5. A class I'd call “Practical Science”. It would start with a series of exercises designed to teach the scientific method. It would then progress through an analysis, rooted in that method, of socially important topics like nuclear power/weapons, evolution and natural history, climate science, biology, ecology, and computing systems.
6. A course on “The Body”, which would talk about diet and how to cook nutritious and healthy meals, how to exercise and set up a workout plan, and how to engage with the healthcare system — annual checkups, dental visits, eye care, dermatology, gynecology, and mental health.
7. A course I'd call “The Mind”, which would focus on conflict resolution; lie detection; negotiation; identifying and stopping abuse, addiction, and dependency; coping with flight/fight responses; and teaching yourself self-control and delaying gratification.
8. Finally, this would all be wrapped in some kind of cohesive structure designed to give these kids the most important skill they can learn before they become adults: flexibility. Kids need to learn how to change jobs, relocate, change political opinions, deal with windfalls and setbacks, and cope with changes in relationships, in their health, and in their country & government. For the next 50 years, these kids are going to be living in the most chaotic times the human race has seen since the fall of the Roman Empire. They need to get as much help as we can give them on how to live in such a world without going mad or giving up hope.

Required Reading:

• The Declaration of Independence. The Constitution. The Bill of Rights. The Gettysburg Address. Eisenhower's Farewell Address. Kennedy's Inaugural Address.
• Some parts of the Bible (Old & New Testament). Some parts of the Koran. Some meaningful Buddhist and Hindu texts.
• A Tale of Two Cities. Snow Crash.
• “The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima And Nagasaki”.
• The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. Fire In the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer.
• Leaves of Grass. Hamlet.

There's nothing they shouldn't read.

Other Skills:

They should adopt a topic they are passionate about on Wikipedia and contribute to that topic in proper editor form.

They should pick a topic (other than entertainment) from current events and learn not just how to investigate that topic through news, blogs, and social media, but also to follow it over time, charting its changes and what it connects with and influences.

They should research investment strategies, devise one for investing $100 in the stock market, and do it. They should compare their results regularly with their peers.

They should learn how to play poker and craps, and understand the math that makes one a game of skill and one a game of chance.

They should learn to play a musical instrument.

They should learn how to take good photographs with their cell phone cameras.

They should learn how to assemble a computer from a box of components, install an operating system, patch it for security, install applications, and browse the internet with a client that did not come with the operating system.

They should learn how to change the oil in a car or truck and how to drive a manual transmission.

They should learn how to call 911 and what to be ready to communicate during that call.

They should learn CPR as well as how to treat a deep cut, a bad burn, an insect bite or sting, a broken bone, and a sudden gastrointestinal illness.

They should learn how to use a compass to navigate between fixed points, and how to return directly to their starting point without retracing their steps.

They should learn how to swim.

They should be exposed to routine government processes like crossing a border with a passport, going through airport security, being stopped by a police officer for a moving violation, and appearing in small claims court.