Given the state of education in our country, it's not too surprising that the best answer isn't an option in the poll. We need to change our curriculum from top to bottom, rolling back the liberal reforms of the 1920s forward. Elementary schools should teach:
Basic mathematics through pre-algebra
Elementary Greek (Attic, and perhaps Koine)
Elementary Latin (Ancient and Medieval)
English and one other foreign language, such as French or German
Athletics
Basic composition and critical thinking (identifying premises and conclusions, main ideas, telling the difference between an argument and an explanation, knowing the difference between inductive and deductive reasoning, some knowledge of the scientific method, etc.)
No need to teach Science, Philosophy, Classics, or Literature. Bottom line at this level: give students the building blocks.
Middle and High School should teach (emphasized in this order):
1) The Classics (along with continued instruction in either Latin or Greek, with opportunity for students to study both)
2) Philosophy and Logic
3) Mathematics
4) Athletics
5) History
6) Science
7) Other literature (Shakespeare, Dante, Tolstoy, Rumi, The Grail Romances, etc.--less emphasis on American authors though some should be taught)
We should add back in what those subjects are really about. Currently, we don't allow much in the way of reference to religion, sex, politics, or drugs in the literature we teach. We don't teach Philosophy because many of the positions with which it is important to be familiar have clear theological, religious, and ethical implications. This sort of censorship was and has been very foolish--we've taken out of the curriculum three-fourths of what it means to be human and what education is about.
Bottom line at this level: show students how to build a mind and why it is important to do so. Show how each subject relates to the others. To graduate high school, students ought to demonstrate basic familiarity with the the main body of each subject and relate it to the others. A high school graduate ought to know, for instance, that both language and mathematics are related in that they are systems of symbols. They ought to be able to discuss intelligently the basic positions about how those systems relate to the world. They ought to be able to place ideas in the context of history. A high school graduate ought to be able to solve complex mathematical problems involving trigonometry and differential calculus. A high school graduate ought to be able to do simple formal proofs in logic. A high school graduate ought to have read and mastered some of the great works of literature.
Proficiency in either Latin or Greek ought to be required for admittance to College (both for elite universities), as well as basic thinking skills illustrated above, and proficiency in mathematics and some form of athletics (with obvious, common-sense exceptions in the case of people who are handicapped--though anyone fit for College ought to be able to learn some competitive game, like chess).
College curricula ought to require at least 9 hours of philosophy (3 hours of logic, 3 hours survey of contemporary philosophy, 3 hours elective) with a 4.0 required in that coursework. A College graduate ought to be fluent in at least three languages (English, Latin or Greek, and one other language, ancient or modern). A College graduate ought to have completed at least 3 hours each in trigonometry and calculus, with at least a 3.5 required in that coursework. A graduate ought to be conversant with the major discoveries of science, and be able to intelligently discuss their relationship to our body of knowledge as a whole. That would probably also take at least 9 hours of coursework, and a 3.5 in that coursework. A graduate ought to have translated at least one of the major Classical works in either Latin or Greek (i.e. one of Plato's dialogues, a few of the books of Herodotus' Historia, at least a few books of Virgil's Anaeid, etc.).
The only thing I'd change in Graduate and Post Graduate studies as they currently stand is that someone seeking an advanced degree in Humanities, Literature, Philosophy, or related fields should be required to complete at least an undergraduate minor in either physics or biology. Someone seeking an advanced degree in one of the Sciences should likewise be required to complete at least an undergraduate minor in a major area of the Humanities (philosophy, literature, religious studies, etc.).
