Good observation and I completely agree. On a slight tangent I've been spending time thinking if I had the ability to change the high school curriculum, how would I do it? So far the thought that has had the most appeal to me is to introduce "reverse engineering" as a core subject. I don't mean reverse engineering in the software or hardware sense, I mean it in the sense of a collection of logical techniques for figuring out the logic behind something phenomena or problems. In some sense "forward engineering" requires reverse engineering from the conceptual finish of a product to its current nonexistent state. Science is the reverse engineering of the laws of nature. But rather than have schools teach any of those skills, they teach encyclopedic knowledge. Knowledge is useful, but without the skills to analyse and use it, it's just wasted effort and brain space.
