The school system is in need of reform. Big time.

I would also like to point out that it is the system that hires these people in the first place, adding more to the fact that the school system should be reformed. However, I agree with what con says in his argument above but I believe that there are also many other things wrong with the school system. 1. Useless mandatory subjects: By mandatory subjects I mean Mathematics, Science, Language, and History/Social Studies. I would like to know if there is a occupation where all of these subjects have a major role in. For example, a historian will obviously need history, but what use is mathematics and science to him? None. All life time careers that can bring success relies on at least 1 of the 4 but none use all of said subjects, rendering years of schools to waste on taking classes that may genuinely interest them and serve them later in life. I understand that some may argue that there are underlying messages to these subjects such as using history as a medium of developing critical thinking skills and etc. However my rebuttal is that teens cannot learn these underlying messages when they are forced to learn something they have no interest in and bear resentment to teachers that try to force these lessons upon us by making the course very difficult. 2. Requirement for community service hours to graduate: I firmly believe a certain philosophy, which is that people that like X will do Y regardless of Z. In this case, people that are helpful/enjoy helping others will volunteer regardless of any obligations from the school. Those who are forced to do these things will often volunteer in community events where there are lots of children. Those teens a lack of interest for anything around them for the entire time that they are there, and they will converse with their friends when no one is "looking", which gives way for a bad role model. 3. Lack of diversity of classes for early years of high school: What do people mean when they say science? Chemistry? Physics? Biology? People have very diverse tastes when it comes to their interests. A man could love chemistry, but for some reason despise ecology. We are to learn the very basics of these things which builds the foundations of our knowledge for future scientists. There is also much diversity for mathematics such as algebra, calculus, and trigonometry. We as teens should have some idea on what we plan to do in the future, and thus should learn very specific subjects by the 9th grade not 11th. If most children do not have at least some idea on their strengths and weaknesses, then the school has neglected its duty to prepare them for the future, as school is not simply a place to learn random facts. 4. Lack of freedoms: School is nothing less of an oligarchy controlled by the administration. We, as students have no voice in the important matters, only perhaps in things such as one day events such as dances which not everyone is interested in. How can we expect teens to live in a democracy when they are literally have been told what to do for the last 13 years. The student council has no power other than organizing said events. 5. Lack of classes that fully encourage critical thinking: As I have mentioned, one possible underlying message of history is to develop thinking skills through teachers asking questions such as "Why do you thing X did Y during Z?" but as clearly indicated in this website, many students despise history thinking of it as nothing more than a time waster, indicating a lack of gravity when it comes to this subject in the classroom. Now I ask, why do we not teach philosophy in high school? Many careers that lead people to success requires quick and critical thinking skills, such as a lawyer, or a doctor performing surgery, etc. We should at least offer such a class to those interested as it inspires real thinking among students instead of memorizing formulas just to plug in numbers that are found on tests. Students will have no excuse for despise such a class as it is not mandatory and they have the right to voluntarily leave said class within 2 months of school starting, making it their own fault for staying if they despise this class. I await con for his response.