Science

This was my first thought- the problem occurs in elementary education. Kids should be shown there is a way they, themselves, can determine how things in the world work, and it begins with simple observation. From there, coming up with ideas about why they observed what they did, and trying to prove or disprove those ideas. The breakdown comes when teachers don't explain, or demonstrate, this method can be used in all areas of life. Can be used to understand anything, really. And even if we can't pass advanced math and becoming actual scientists, we can still use the scientific method to explain our world.

I once explained to my kids why the founding fathers would bother recording the daily temperature and weather conditions in their diaries. Successful agriculture is the difference between life and death. Benjamin Franklin could step back, take note of yearly trends- a rudimentary form of the computer models that automate this kind of work now- and advise farmers about how to thrive in this new-to-them environment. That he took these observations and sold them at a profit was beside the point