[DaiPlusPlus]

FWIW, we covered critical thinking in lower-sixth (16-17yo) as my school offered it as an elective, and I did 2 years of critical media studies as part of my english-language GCSE (ages 14-16). Not every school will have offered those subjects to their student body though. Another factor is that I was in the top-sets which meant every course was available for me - if I were in a lower-ability set/group I would have had less opportunities for critical studies courses.

(Paternalism warning:) My main take-away from that experience was that the people that I feel would benefit the most from media-literacy and critical-thinking are the ones who wouldn't have been given an opportunity to study it at secondary-school in the first place...