Aristotle wrote "All advancement in civilization begins with the development of character in the young."  I believe the most important quality for a child to learn is self-discipline - the ability to delay gratification.  Years ago, Harvard University researchers tested the impact self-discipline had on a persons life by seating several 5 year olds in a room with a piece of candy in front of them.  The kids were told that if they waited to eat the candy until the adult monitor returned, they would be given 2 additional pieces of candy.   The adult left the room and the kids were observed through a one-way mirror.  Most of the children gave in over time and ate the candy.  Twenty-five years later they followed up on these kids and found a direct correlation between how fast a child ate the candy and how happy and successful they were in their adult life.
    In a 1964, Dr Edward Banfield published the results of 25 years of research which had studied socio-economic success in American and other countries.  He found that despite all factors (including family background, education, marriage, divorce, living in different regions of the country, personal talent to name a few) socio-economic advancement was dependent on what he called "long term perspective"  In short, successful people are future oriented. (This was updated in 1989, and Dr. Banfield found nothing had changed in those 25 years.)
    In his book Economics in One Lesson, Henry Hazlitt showed that the ability to accurately predict the second consequence of your actions, also predicts who would be successful in life.  This is because, long term thinking helped people make better short term decisions. 
    Perhaps instead of preparing kids for standardized tests, we should be teaching them chess.