This week: OK, Smarty Pants, what would you do differently?

Last week's survey gave Tripod readers a chance to sound off on the state of affairs in America's schools. Now we put you on the spot (sort of). If you could mandate one class that every student must take, what would it be? What books would assign for this class? What would you have your students experience? We promise not to shoot any spitballs at you.

Read what others have said so far, and then tell us what you think.

See what Tripod members had to say about their educational experiences in the last survey. For other past survey results, check our survey archive.

A new Politics & Community survey is published each Thursday.

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Dickj: Human Experience 101: An interactive, hands-on, get-down-and-dirty class formulating the tools necessary to prepare the individual for life on earth with divergent ethnic, racial, and religous groups.

In this class the students will be prompted to incorporate into their lives the cultures of others to insinuate those beliefs into their own daily lives. The student is prompted to use these tools to influence others for the benefit of understanding differences to aid in repairing the scars of division. Summary: This workshop is not for the faint of heart. Be prepared to learn just how deep your bias goes; and how it can effect the lives of others.

paulgowder: Ignoring B.S. 101. This class would be designed to teach people to ignore such foolishness as the multiculturalism Dickj seems to love so much, and other societal stupidities.

grok: Daily Living: This course will consist of the basics that every person should be able to do in their day-to-day lives. It's required for both sexes, and a passing grade is needed to graduate. Course will consist of the following:

1. Automotive: (a) Tire Changing; (b) Tune-ups (Plugs, filters, fluids); (c) General mechanical requirements
2) Home: (a) Simple Plumbing (washers, leaks, caulking); (b) Electrical (bulbs, fuses, breakers, wall switches & sockets, dangers); (c) Basic heating & Air Conditioning needs; (d) Simple carpentry
3) Food: (a) Basic nutritional food preparation; (b) Shopping and cost comparison
4) Clothing: (a) Simple sewing (buttons, hemming, etc); (b) Shoe care & polishing
5) Finances: (a) Balancing a checkbook!; (b) Future planning and saving; (c) Tax preparation (short and long forms); (d) How to purchase a home & requirements from most lenders
6) Medical: (a) CPR and general first aid; (b) Questions to ask a doctor in serious medical situations; (c) Dealing with insurance companies/HMO
7) General Responsibility: (a) Legal consequences of various actions; (b) Life consequences of early parenthood; (c) Being willing to stand up to authority if necessary, and the consequences

Sure, a lot of this stuff the parents could/should be teaching their kids, but they are not doing it. There shouldn't be any graduate that can't do the basic day-to-day living that these points cover - they're not that hard, and virtually all adults should be able to do them. I'm sure that many will have additional items that would also make sense, and a few will bitch about the tax requirement, but the basic knowledge should be there even if someone else does it for you later in life. (Would help stop the Clinton-like "I don't know" excuse too).

blakek: I doubt the point is the topic or textbooks. The trick is for teachers to raise their expectations. If the slowest students fall behind and advanced students profit, so be it.

Also, outdated teaching methods (hierarchical lectures, sanitized textbooks) should disappear. Instead, students should be encouraged to choose their own books from well-stocked libraries. That way, they're self-directed, they learn that all knowledge is infused by perspective and eventually, they learn to discriminate among authors and works.

In addition, multimedia has advanced to the point that students can learn in a more visceral way -- it's been proven repeatedly that today's students learn best by doing.

drsurfers: I say, computer sciences 101 would be nice. If you think about it, computers run a good part of our lives right now, not to mention in the future. We need to be prepared for the coming of the Computer Age, if it's not already here.

JJBlack: My interest 101 -- a class where students pick one area that they find interesting and spend one semester doing research. After doing the research, the students will write an article on their research results. Some students may have to take Research and Writing 101 as a prerequisite to learn how to do research and writing article on the results.

davidbaker: I am a teacher in an alternative Adult Education High School. I think the problem is not that the classes required aren't the right ones, I think it is that teachers are not getting across why this stuff is important. School is more than teaching facts, it's teaching people to think and to believe that they hold their own destiny.