If(2)...
 

If you were the U.S. General Superintendent of Schools, how would you run our country's schools differently? What changes would you make?

Good topic...

Well since I went to a public high school that was DILAPIDATED (sp.?) and to' down http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/mad.gif I would probably concentrate on improving the conditions of the schools in the lower-income areas. It is funny how when you go across town to the more upscale neighborhoods, there are state-of-the-art schools with enough supplies for every student. I remember when I was in school we only had enough books to keep in the classroom (we rarely got books to take home...the only classes I can remember taking books home for were my math and science classes) and even then we had to share.
I believe funding for public schools was based on the property taxes for the surrounding area, so naturally the upper-class areas had better schools.
So, based on my experience, if I were on the school board I would try to ensure that funding for public school is distributed EVENLY among ALL schools and abolish the property tax funding.

BTW I like Chi_ZETA's idea...at my university we are required to take a diversity class and a class with a mulitcultural theme to graduate. I think it should start MUCH earlier than the university level, though. Like in elementary school.

School all year round. In order to graduate you must take a racial sensitivity class and a decent human being class. Pay raise definitely for teachers. No tolerence clause. One offense with weapons , drugs, or fighting you are out. Stop glorifying these pregnant girls, put them in a special school. They are even having baby showers in school. How pathetic. A teenager with a baby is not cute. We had 2 pregnant 12 year olds last year.

I would take more of a "Montessori" approach to how we educste our children. But that would only occur after dumping about a trillion more dollars into the Education budget... so we could more properly train the teachers, and PAY them for their work.