Such individuals provide an enormous resource for tackling the problems of society that require special knowledge and skills. Learning keeps people fresh and alive. Further, it's extremely important in a world that is changing as rapidly as ours. That is, they are not being learned effectively. It is not clear that going back to basics will fix anything.
Violence seems to be rampant everywhere.
Drugs are available at ages that are simply abominable. They are at the local level at each school, and then up through multiple levels as far as the federal government. Bureaucrats don't enhance or facilitate the education process. Discipline is nearly absent from the classroom. Disruptions prevent those who want to learn from being able to do so.