by Kevin Bahler

Created on: August 01, 2008

The simple answer to the question is yes. Schools should have mandatory classes. The more important questions to ask ourselves is what classes should be mandatory and why? The duty of schools is to mold children's minds and lead them down the road to adulthood. Since every individual will end up following a different path, the courses that should be mandatory should be the ones that every single person will need in order to become a productive member of society. So what subjects are those?

Math
There is no denying that math is a crucial skill to living life in this country (whichever country you are in right now). However, there is a limit. Pre-calculus is far above anything I could possibly need for living my life. What I do need, though, and am extremely happy to have, is a very strong grasp of algebra. Everybody needs to know basic algebra, like solving for a single variable and how to use the basic functions (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and simple exponents). I believe it is also important to know some intermediate abilities like multiplication with fractions. These are not skills we should have because they are neat; they are skills we need to have in order to effectively manage our money and our food.

English and Language Arts
Some people say English and some people say Language Arts. Those are two different things and both of them are crucial. Both of them are often very poorly taught. English class usually means that kids are told to read and regurgitate what they read as a book report. In reality, most students will steal a report and rewrite it in their own words so it can't be found with an internet search. Nobody is gaining anything from this except a realization that cheating is easy and very effective, which is the opposite of what we want them to be thinking. English class should be about learning what proper English is and how to use it. Proper English is nobody's first language because we learn colloquial English from our family and friends first. While many people reject the idea of learning all of the rules of spelling, grammar, and punctuation as being necessary. I will concede that a person can live perfectly fine without knowing how to spell properly (especially with the handy spell check feature), the fact remains that any person who wishes to go far in the world will need to know how to sound like an intelligent adult. Nobody will hire an applicant whose resume is littered with typos and emoticons.

Language arts, as the

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