I think there are a lot of different problems mixed into this. Part of this is social skills. This seems to break down starting in junior high, where a civil a

I think there are a lot of different problems mixed into this. Part of this is social skills. This seems to break down starting in junior high, where a civil and comfortable environment for children to interact can be seen as an exception, or only available to a segment of the kids. Then you have the challenge of explaining highly technical topics, where the knowledge is changing, to people where you simply do not know their starting point and ability to understand new concepts as they are introduced. It's probably closer to the challenge a teacher has when explaining a foreign topic to students. Social skills and social maturity are just as important for talking to people about technology as they are for thriving in a college environment. Especially at elite colleges, if kids don't know the rules of the game, they will not enjoy the full benefits of education. I think college also fails to be a great melting pot and social fuser as it could be when you look at retention and dropout rates, and the social backgrounds of who primarily benefits. I can appreciate Shakespeare, but I think trying to teach that (or another topic in the same spirit) as the solution is just doing more of the same, and it doesn't work. Or at least it's not as effective as other approaches might be.