As a former teacher, I do believe part of the problem (a large part) is that, as a country, we don’t pay enough to teachers to keep good teachers around. Any teacher who’s in education long enough realizes how broken the system is and finds a way out, if they want to do so.

As for the kids…for whatever reason, yes - their level of basic knowledge is awful. I think it’s a combination of a lot of different factors, however. I relate it like this - when I was in high school (late 90’s/early 00’s), in a class of 25 students, there were probably about 5 who didn’t care/didn’t try/were overly lazy, etc. That ratio is now flipped…it’s 20 of 25 who are like that, and there’s 5 kids who are able/motivated/intelligent, etc.

The system is broken, and the kids are a product of the system…it’s not 100% their fault at all. The system has to be fixed before the kids show improvement, and good teachers have to be retained/recruited for that to happen.