Superintendent for a Day

[Doktor Howl]

They've heroically "accepted" a pay freeze, of their £65000 per year, not including "legitimate" expenses (second home in London, money for trouser presses, paying peasants to clean out the moat, paying for a flat for your rent-boy etc).

Wow.  That must be tough on them.  I weep for their sacrifice.

[Cain]

Throw in inflation and tax increases, and most public sector workers have effectively taken a pay cut already (pay was frozen in 2008).  In addition to that, this would cause the average teacher to earn £120 a month less.

[trippinprincezz13]

high school.
firearm safety with a trip to the range.

This.

10th grade.

How to fix shit around the house.

And this! Even a "how not to spend your money like a retard" along DP's ideas would be useful. FFS, how to balance a checkbook even so you don't overdraw your stupid account.  No-one knows how to do anything useful anymore. Highschool, especially the first two years of high school were shoving the same information down our throats over and over so we could pass the MCAS and graduate. I started highschool in Honors biology, but the next year had to take what essentially amounted to middle-school science over again "because it's on the MCAS!" Highschool home-ec? We had to take tests labeling basic kitchen equipment. This is a whisk! This is a spatula (except no, it's a "pancake turner". Wtf? DERP!). And I think we made French toast and maybe muffins or something. We did that in middleschool AND they taught us to sew then. Not label stupid pictures on a paper.

By highschool, at the latest, kids should be learning "real world" skills, not just regurgitating the same basic information over and over to learn how to take a test. I am amazed at some of the things people out of highschool have no clue how to do.  But they sure can download the latest I-Tunes and discuss the latest news on American Idol like nobody's business.

[LMNO]

How to roast a chicken and carve it, with potatoes and a vegetable.

Feed a family of 4 for less than $10. 

[trippinprincezz13]

Like others have said already to, media awareness/analysis. I watch some of the commercials on TV and can pick out their "key-words" and "tricks" (for lack of a better word) and wonder how people can get drawn into it, but obviously they do because they keep putting out commercials doing the same things over and over (hey, that's a guy like me! and he's smiling! I need those pills too so I'll be happy!)

Or I hear what I would consider to be otherwise intelligent people spouting some catch phrase or rhetoric or whatever, against this or that and the only support they can offer for it is that "Fox news said it!" and continue with circular logic from there.

[LMNO]

Critical analysis can't be taught in a day.

Financial responsibility and frugal self-sufficiency can.

Considering we have a time limit, I know which way I'd go.

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

I don't think anything that I would consider necessary can be taught in a day, except maybe how to shoot a gun and which zombie body parts are best to shoot at.

[AFK]

Well if they are male zombies it is obviously the crotch. 

[trippinprincezz13]

Critical analysis can't be taught in a day.

Financial responsibility and frugal self-sufficiency can.

Considering we have a time limit, I know which way I'd go.

That is true, I just started going off on everything else and the fact that schools really don't send kids off with many "real life" skills, which is a shame. At least I was prepared for all those multiple choice & short essay tests I take on a daily basis at my job! Though I do suppose they help to hone kids' bullshitting skills.

/soapbox

This would be a great day course:

How to roast a chicken and carve it, with potatoes and a vegetable.

Feed a family of 4 for less than $10.  

Even including with it (or a day itself) a basic "smart shopping" course (looking for coupons/sales/best deals, buying in bulk and storing portions, comparing brand v. store, quality v. quantity, etc.)

I don't know.

[Jenne]

I think I've shared this before, but I actually HAD a "school of hard knocks" sort of course called "On Your Own" when I was a 12th grader.  It taught us stuff like balancing checkbooks, how to read a bank statement, how to look for and apply for a job, we did that "balloon baby" thing where you had to partner up and take care of a baby to simulate what a pain in the ass 24-hour babysitting is, how to play the stock market (!), how to look for and rent an apartment or house, and on and on.

It was actually a REALLY helpful class.

As for being in control of a particular class or whole grade for one day...there's just too much that I can think of...the media savvy idea is good.  I also like the idea of teaching kids some critical thinking--even a few simple exercises can last a while and make an impression if done right/effectively.

[LMNO]

Rethinking it for the third time:

A day-long experiment and discussion over a specific kind of unconcious Bias has a good chance of sticking with a kid for a long time.

I'm thinking of something like Eye of the Storm, where a teacher separates her 3rd grade class by eye color as a lesson about racism.  Follow up documentaries have shown that the kids largely became more sensitive to discrimination, even as adults.

Maybe a Prisoner's Dilemma game, or Newcomb's problem type of experiment, with discussion afterwards?

[Cainad (dec.)]

<mean streak>

11th grade.

Milgram experiment.

</mean streak>

[Luna]

Gimme the 10 year olds.

Class on "controlled regurgitation of memorized facts" vs. "thinking for yourself and actually figuring shit out."

[Triple Zero]

My day would probably be something like:

This is the Internet. This is how to relate to it. This is how to protect yourself & your privacy. This is how to use search engines.

I think I'd do this. Searchlores style, as a tribute to Fravia+. It'd take a bit of preparation to up it for more modern times.

Not because it's the most important thing to teach, but rather because it's the most important thing that I could teach well.

[Triple Zero]

A close second for me would be to teach media literacy.  Kids are bombarded by many more messages from many more sources than I was as a kid.  I imagine it could be a bit dizzying for a raging ball of hormones and angst.  I think it's a good idea for kids to understand messaging, to think about what messages mean, what the motivations of the messager are, etc., etc.

Yeah speaking of Searchlores style, I'd also teach them "reality cracking" [as it's called there]--basically a form of awareness vs advertisements and media that is not quite but almost advertising.

edit: critical thinking, that's the term.