[imoverclocked]

There are things that any school system excels at more than others. My Bulgarian ex-wife was really good (in comparison to myself and others we met) with trig identities. Math seemed to be strongly emphasized in her youth but that didn’t necessarily impart good overall judgement.

Critical thinking is a core skill that needs to be nurtured for sure. However, critical thinking is useless without basic facts… which means there needs to be some emphasis on wrote memorization. Sometimes those two things can feel at odds; Why memorize anything when it can just be derived?

In a country that simultaneously fights over reciting a pledge because it has “under God” while also fighting against teaching evolution, it’s pretty amazing that we function at all.