Did a two year stint in education (9th through 12th grade) ~27k students, working in LMS software (Moodle).

The state of affairs is... desperate. They allow unlimited retries on English assignments. 20% of kids are blatantly using ChatGPT and don't bother learning basic concepts.

Florida as an example has a pretty strict requirement that you must pass 11th grade English to graduate. There about 10% of students in a limbo where they are now in 12th grade about to graduate, and they are forced to take out of school education to try and pass the 11th grade final exam. It's become an entire business model of some smaller education providers.

"English 3" as its called is pretty foundational, arguments, research, speeches, MLA and sourcing material. It's not just Shakespeare, it's critical thinking (oh god I sound like ChatGPT).

Unfortunately the "service class" will swell to an unfathomable size, with people who will lack any and all ability to learn. How are even the blue collar jobs supposed to be staffed if you can't read the HVAC manual.