[fqued]

Personally, I think teaching Latin would be a great thing to do

The most important classes I took in high school were Latin and Greek--it taught me how what I say means what it says (got that?).
In essence, I think of English in terms of Latin and Greek syntax, because English syntax is so amorphous. Who ever learned about the optative or the pluperfect subjunctive in an English Class? And yet, we do, indeed, speak in ways that make sense when thought of in terms of the syntax of Latin and Greek.

[livius]

My knowledge of the structure of Latin has been an enormous help in learning all of the modern languages I later learned (including non-Romance languages).

The best thing we could do to help kids read and write better, IMHO, would be to restore the teaching of Latin. But it should be started in the early grades. If you check the internet, you'll find that there are all sorts of really enjoyable teaching aids for Latin (games, stories, etc), particularly for teaching Latin to elementary school age kids.

I would imagine these things are used mostly by homeschoolers.