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I just saw a question on school systems:

How many years could you trim from schooling?

Assume you are a secretary of education in a country facing serious labor shortages. The Dear Leader has already ordered a closure of all unnecessary fields, which includes everything beside STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), Medicine & Accounting. Now it's your job to trim years from primary & secondary education.

What's the maximum number of years that you could trim from the current 12 (8 primary, 4 secondary) without sending unprepared high school graduates to college?

I've rechecked the guidelines and I'm baffled. Why would this be off-topic?

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  • $\begingroup$ Please point out how this relates to worldbuilding? Each and every country has a different educational system. For example, in BC, Canada, we have 7 primary and 5 secondary, but there are different programs within those primary years. Montessori and Neighbourhood programs come to mind, with different teaching styles. I did not have to memorise any multiplication tables for math in Montessori (and still haven't, many years later), whereas Neighbourhood had to memorise the tables from an early age. This results in a dfiferent amount of years required to learn different subjects. My school... $\endgroup$
    – Aify
    Dec 20, 2016 at 19:32
  • $\begingroup$ ... Montessori program back then was focused on creative problem solving (within math and science subjects, obviously), but seldom did I have to memorise or learn facts until secondary. Compared to the other program, i have come out of my schooling with a better mindset for solving problems in real life, while they have a better mindset for solving problems on paper. Both are skills required in college; so how can you say that you can cut years and avoid having people be "unprepared", when our current applicants are already unprepared. $\endgroup$
    – Aify
    Dec 20, 2016 at 19:35
  • $\begingroup$ Don't forget that in Finland, there are only 9 years of education, and yet their education system is generally considered the best in the world. They don't even teach subjects the way north americans do; last I heard, they taught the kids whatever they wanted to learn and avoided teaching "subjects" like the plague. $\endgroup$
    – Aify
    Dec 20, 2016 at 19:35
  • $\begingroup$ I think it's just not clear because you didn't provide a context, but it's on this site, so it should probably have been seen as some sort of dystopian world. $\endgroup$
    – johnny
    Jan 15, 2017 at 0:58

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It Doesn't Relate Directly To Worldbuilding

I didn't vote to close it, but I can imagine why it would be closed. I actually voted to reopen, because I don't really think that it is really off topic.

Not every question that takes place in a fictional world is about worldbuilding. In this case, I believe the author of the question failed to explain why this is world building. While the question certainly relates to a society, it seems to focus more on changing our current one than making a fictional one.

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