Some high schools are now requiring all students to take physics under pressure from businesses and industry.
This article from NorthJersey describes how some schools are requiring that students take physics as a graduation requirement.
While I think everyone can benefit from learning about physics, I don't think it is suitable for everyone, at least in high school. I think that everyone has the capacity to understand physics, but in high school and college it is often taught with a stifling rigidity. Corralling all students through a physics class puts a strain on teachers as they try to teach to students that just aren't interested.
I think that education is a deeply personal pursuit. You have to want to learn something in order to develop passion and skill. Making cookie cutter kids in an assembly line education process won't necessarily help industry. However, fostering passion and openness towards science early in a child's education might make children more receptive and interested in science later on. Personally, I think that this can start at a preschool age, when a child is actively and naturally learning about the physical rules around him. This was certainly the case in my own childhood, and even overcame the negative effects of a stultifying grade 12 physics course that had me staring out the window watching birds peck at the ground and grass sway in the breeze (other kids further from the distraction of the window spent the class sleeping).
What do you think?
