once again, i agree with all of your points (it is like you are reading my mind)
though in elementary school the brain is just starting develop, we should challenge it instead of letting it take the bare minimum. By not challenging the brain early on, they expect ot never be challenged, and thus we have the situation that our high schools face today.
It is very important that we challenge the young mind, so to teach them to think at a young age, so that they will be think as they get older...
Laziness is of course another negative in our society. People have been getting used to accomplishing the bare minimum and then calling it a day. This is especially notable in many occupations that our parents and mentors have today. Since these people are our role models, the laziness transfers. Basically America needs one giant energy shot to get its act together. In a typical 8-hour work day, people are probably working no more than 6 hours, which once again henders our society.
Basically, the moral is that kids aren't being challenged and these math contests are beginning to accomplish this challenge, however, it is attracting the kids to late. The amount of elementary math competitions are significally lower than the amount in middle school and high school. When i went through elementary, I did not know of any competition that would challenge me outside of school and actually make me think.
If we could solve these problems, high school would actually become worthwhile and the people would actually learn something that would apply to the life
Next Point:
Taking notes and tearing apart a couple of novels is perfectly fine, but the extent in which we make students do this has become extreme. A much more important thing is to be able to read something and retain the plot, not the hidden meanings. In the business world, most things are cut and dry and pretty much just plot.
Science needs cover alot more information in elementary school, instead of going over the solar system every single year and going over dinosaurs. They need to cover other important aspects.
Then the most important thing that needs to be instituted is the cumulative testing. I am not talking about just taking finals, but rather on every test have a concept that was on the previous test. This would keep people from forgetting everything, sinc they have to retain it from test to test. This would actually make it possible for people to win $1 million on "Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader?". The tests also need to stop being so repetitive, which would be helped out with the cumulative testing.
I think that covers everything that is important