In response to GorT’s thoughts below this post, the Czar has some addenda. In fact, he’s discussed this with one of our more liberal Twitter readers who agreed with the overall premise here.

So in addition to the revamp of the sciences in high school, the Czar would propose some additional classes:

Freshman year: one semester of Critical Thinking, as 14-year-old are generally prone to gullibility but quick to observe loopy thinking when asked to. This could be a two-semester course, of course, but let’s start here. After all, freshmen have plenty of other courses to take this year. Cover fallacies, evaluating evidence, comparing multiple sources, fact-checking, skeptical thinking, and more.

Sophomore year: one semester of Logic, including premise/conclusion, Venn diagramming, sets, and analysis.

Junior year: communications (one semester), covering speech delivery, enunciation where practical, ad libbing, humor, structuring an argument, handling debate, form, composition, etc. Rhetoric (second semester), examining how to persuade, use flow, structure, and basic speech writing.

Senior year: grammar (full year). In lieu of reading literature and poetry, maybe teach the kids to write at a college level, including how to write a thesis, edit for grammar, understanding why grammar works, how to cite sources, the dangers of plagiarism, formatting, and use proper vocabulary and avoid writing and vocabulary mistakes.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.