Update, and angsty

Happy belated birthdays to yiab and pixie_ysral. You both rock, and I hope you had a blast!

I am angsty today. Contributing factors?
(1) I dropped down my dosage of Paxil to 10 mg on Friday night. I'm now below the therapeutic dosage level. Go me. This also may be contributing to my crankiness and angsty-ness
(2) With the decrease in Paxil, my light-sleeper-ness has returned. I slept like teh utter crapola last night, and feel really out of it today.
(3) I've been having this weird sensation in my throat, kind of like asthma, or tightness in throat... sort of the "it hurts my throat to breath" sensation, but not. Possible causes? Paxil withdrawal, Splenda, Aspartame, or Caffeine. In an attempt to make it go away, I'm attempting to cut all three of those out of my system today and see if it goes away. Problem is, I realized too late that my cereal has Splenda and my yogurt has aspartame. But, they have far less than diet beverages, so I'm still sticking to it.

But, I'm not going to angst on LJ. Nope nope. Because I'm not angsty ABOUT those things, I'm just angsty. And, in general, I've found that if I'm already angsty, the reassurance I get on LJ is never enough. My angst is an insatiable monster! Thus, posting in ways designed to help my angst often makes it worse, because I am then dissatisfied with the results, and that also belittles the efforts of those who try to cheer me up. So I am not going to do so. Instead, I will start a brainstorming post on education. Yes, that is what I will do.

Education

I have long been of the belief that our education system as it stands does not teach the right subjects. I actually do mean this in the general sense of "our education system." I include all of North America. I don't know enough about elsewhere to say anything about them.

So, I would like to brainstorm, seriously, on topics you think absolutely MUST be taught by the time mandatory public education comes to an end. I'm not worried right now about the details, like when it is taught. I'm just worried about what information needs to be imparted.

I'll start:
(0) Literacy
(1) Enough math to handle basic bills etc. without a calculator.
(2) Finances (probably this would NOT be an elective): How to handle money. How interest works. How to build a budget. How to use computer programs that help you do this. How taxes and tax brackets work.
(3) Logic, skepticism (how this can be taught is an entirely different question...) How to question everything.
(4) How the scientific process works, and how to apply that to your life. So, a trite explanation of the scientific method is not what I mean. I mean: What it means when scientists say something is a theory. How much evidence is necessary before scientists tend to consider something a leading theory, one that they would recommend that, for instance, medical patients act upon. What a well-designed study looks like (ie. so that students could potentially look at a study and say, "Well, that's not a big enough sample set, or that's a biased sample set." How to read a study, so that you don't look at something and draw meaning out of it where there is none (that's what the media spends most of its science reporting doing this days, unfortunately...)
(5) How their body works, and the current state of the art on nutrition and fitness. The current crap about the food pyramid is really not enough. Basic facts like Calories in => weight gained, and the ratios and numbers involved, are trivial to teach but are not taught.
(6) Basis of democracy: How their local government works, how some other democracies work... basically this would give them the framework they need to take part in the democratic process in an informed fashion.
(7) Basics of parenting: Not stupid stuff like how to put a diaper on, although that might be included. More, stuff about what can affect the developmental process of a child negatively and positively, starting from the moment of conception. This class would also try to imbue students with the concept that being a parent is a privilege, and not a right. That it is something they should undertake with great consideration and care for the child, and not something that should be done for themselves or because it is what is done.
(8) Home Ec, Art, and Shop. I don't know about elsewhere in the world, but in my middle school we got this part right. EVERYONE had to take the same rotation of classes. We had a three term calendar, for three years. One term would be spent doing Art, one term doing Shop, and one term doing Home Ec, which taught some of the parenting stuff but mostly a mixture of sewing and cooking. I would cut down on the Art, however, and increase the sewing and cooking, especially the cooking. EVERYONE should know the basics of how to do basic shop stuff, cook themselves food, and repair clothing.

Your turn! What did I miss? I know I didn't put science or history or geography or politics in there, largely because I'm not sure how to distinguish between what is "enough" of a framework to function, and what is icing and should be elective. I know, however, that my own understanding of history is extremely weak to the point of being laughable. But even the little I know proves useful in giving the present context and helping me to know what is a bad idea and what is a good idea based on whether or not it has been tried.

Thingies

First things first. Congratulations to dragon_spirit and kineticphoenix on your first days back at school! You both rock, and I wish you both tremendous amounts of luck and opportunity.

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In other news, I have finally reached the stage where I have printed out the form for british citizenship. I have my birth certificate, and my parents' marriage certificate, and all I need now is two passport photos and my father's birth certificate (which I know my parents have somewhere).

I was amused, however, to look at this official document of Her Majesty's Government, and see...

Smiley faces.

Yes, that's right. They have little smiley faces on it. Two that I've counted so far.

It's very friendly of them! And perhaps, arguably, a little silly. :)

Yay. Soon I will have my third proof of citizenship, and I will truly be a citizen of the world, free to roam at will and work where I will.