The attempts by the American College of Physicians and President Clinton to revise the system of medical care delivery are well intentioned. However, except for a recent special article by Fries and colleagues [1], the importance of patient education has largely been ignored.

I favor curricula for all levels of schooling, starting with kindergarten through to adult education and television programming. These curricula could be modeled on the first 2 years of medical school, beginning with simplified normal anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry through pathologic disturbances. Clinical information would build on this to teach people how to take responsibility for caring for their bodies. Preventive care, with special attention to environment, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and hygiene, should be heavily emphasized. Psychological education, including parenting and self-parenting should cover the teaching of empathy toward our fellow human beings [2]. Motivation is a major factor, but programs like those at Stanford on smoking cessation for teenagers have pioneered successful new methods. Incentives such as decreased insurance premiums might be given to those with a "health certificate".

One example of the effect of such education is the minirevolution caused by the publication of Our Bodies, Our Selves by the Boston Women's Health Group. This changed gynecologic care by making the patient an educated consumer.

This new curriculum could easily be incorporated into the ongoing Project 2061, the American Association for the Advancement of Science's long-range national science education curriculum revision.