Here it is in a nutshell: a politicized, politically correct educational establishment that teaches garbage in the interest of social engineering lies at fault. Which is why home-schooled kids typically do better by all objective measures.
Allow me to simplify this: teach crap, get crap. And that’s your problem right there.
Also, I think that it would be better to have students read what, for example, Frederick Douglas WROTE, himself ... instead of reading what 5 mediocre authors SAID about what he wrote.
There is no person who can better convey facts than the individual who wrote them. No literary hack or textbook author can compare to the authentic source.