Prepared students with rigorous academic training in high school

Prepared students with rigorous academic training in high school so that they can succeed in college and graduate.

6. Stop thinking that today's public schools resemble the school you attended years ago. They don't.

Dr. Gangel said in his 1996 high school commencement address that 90 percent of what those students learned in school will be obsolete in two years. Those were his words, not mine.

If that's true, perhaps the curriculum should be changed to emphasize only skills such as grammar, reading, composition, math, history, foreign language and science that last a lifetime. Otherwise, students are being cheated out of their education.

7. Insist on an atmosphere of respect in school.

Children are going to put each other down and destroy personal initiative unless a policy of respect is Strictly enforced. The wrong use of words, by students and teachers, can be defeating and crippling.

Learning will not be successful in schools resembling what happens on The Simpsons, Roseanne and Married With Children.

8. Give each students an opportunity to earn a college scholarship.

Who says students must take four years to finish high school? Some could complete the requirements in three years, some in two years. Here's how you can give students an incentive to work hard and develop a school culture that rewards academic success:

Offer a scholarship equal to what the school would spend in one year (approximately $6,000) to students who complete the requirements in three years, and maintain an average of B or higher.

Then, if students complete the high school requirements in two years, they can get a double scholarship. It would be equal to what taxpayers would have spent for the two years of high school (approximately $12,000).

9. Every child, from third grade and up, should be required to take final exams.

If it's worth teaching a subject for