Consider this is also a huge, multi-generational propagation of information problem in very long latency (slow) network structures. A few members of one genera

Consider this is also a huge, multi-generational propagation of information problem in very long latency (slow) network structures. A few members of one generation learns to read and write, they provide the teachers for the next generation, somewhat along the way arithmetic and finance start getting thrown in. How many teachers, especially at the higher levels, really understand their subject, and aren't just reciting it? Then there are other issues. On the finance side, a notoriously high pressure, long hours career, where is the incentive to teach other people? We should absolutely change the curriculum the way you suggest, and use basic life skills as the foundation for teaching things like math, biology etc. And better, typically private or privileged entry schools do just that. To do that across the board, well, first we have to teach the teachers. (On that front it would probably also help if the US coped Finland and paid them decently, but that would require some kind of across the board federal funding, and we all know how Americans feel about the T word.)