They should know about subjects and predicates, about isosceles triangles and ellipses. They should know where the Amazon flows and what the First Amendment means. They should know about the Donner Party and slavery, and Shylock, Hercules, and Abigale Adams, where Ethiopia is, and why there was a Berlin Wall. Schools should compete with television for the mind and the heart by offering the best we have. In the marketplace of ideas, schools should present a quality product.
Cheaper goods are available everywhere.
Unfortunately none of this is possible unless a child has reached the point where he is emotionally available. The single gravest problem facing American education is our children's general sense of insecurity and poor self-esteem. Years ago, when I first studied clinical psychology, we were taught that one almost never saw depression in children before the years of adolescence. Today depression and even clinical eating disorders are being identified increasingly among children as young as three and four. Anger and poor self-control are major issues in many schools.