The purpose of education is to teach students how to think, so they can lead productive, independent lives, said Andrew Bernstein, a philosophy professor at Pace University. Money, school uniforms, standardized tests and a myriad of other proposals, including single-sex schools, school prayer and smaller class sizes, won't do anything to help students to learn how to think. What we need instead is an education revolution, focusing on the essential: the curriculum.

Bernstein outlined the curriculum that would save the American education system and our children's minds:

* Reading, emphasizing phonics and great literature

* Writing, emphasizing grammar and logical structure

* Arithmetic, emphasizing the connection of numbers and math to practical reality and actual problems

* History, emphasizing causal connections and the intellectual ideas driving historical events

* Science, emphasizing the observation of facts and the logical progression of integrating those observations into scientific principles In an effort to help identify the problems facing the education system and offer a solution to its ills, the Ayn Rand Institute recently launched its Rational Education Web Site (http://education.aynrand.org). The site includes essays on topics ranging from Ayn Rand's Tax Credits for Education to Why Johnny Can't Think to the Institute's Student Survival Guide.