You make excellent points. I do think we need more math and science classes, but FIRST, we need to teach competently what we have now. One problem with current teaching theories is that learning must always be *fun*. The "educators" who hold this belief rail against having students memorize their addition and multiplication tables because that's not *fun*. They don't want flash cards or drills or timed tests. But it's amazing that some of these same math-phobes who argue against math drills want to see the football and basketball players running wind sprints and play drills.
That is one of the major problems in secondary education--one of many.