I’ve long thought we need to focus our best efforts at grades K-5. The battle is lost after that, unless a student is exceptional. We had sophomores in HS who didn’t know who Abraham Lincoln was. A complete overhaul of the standards and curriculum is required.
Maybe we could base it on textbooks from the early 50s. I remember all the exercises in my English book had sentences with patriotic, character building, common sense examples.
Bring back "The Original McGuffey's - Eclectic Readers Set". There is no need to reinvent the perfect wheel.