8 Years to get Educated

Think about this - if you could only afford to pay for 8 years of education -

1)what would you teach so the person could be equipped to teach themselves anything they needed to learn in the future and

2) what would you study (if you're the student)

I've been asking myself this question because in much of the developing world, the definition of an educated workforce is one that has attained an 8th grade education. Yet, here in the United States, hardly anyone would think that a person was educated with only 8 years of school. How might one re-imagine an 8 year time frame given an eager young mind, the internet, search technologies, television - cable, digital and content on demand, radio, blogs, podcasts, books, Montesorri, oral tradition and two thousand years of history on how knowledge is passed on?

Literature for thought: The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson. In this novel, the young female protaganist, Nell, holds the key to interactive intelligence and learning through an amazing technology enabled book.