there are people that go beyond high school curriculum, formally or informally, but there are lots of people who just passively accept what they learned k-12 at face value.... especially when it comes to social sciences like history, economics, government. but other areas as well, like biology.

as an example, i was part of an informal panel interview for a science education position at an outdoor school. among the applicants, there was a younger person. public k-12. super affable, had some great ideas for engaging kids. B.S. and M.S. at a smaller school i hadn't heard of, but who cares. it didn't sound like a religious school, and her credentials were in biology and science education. as we went through our questions, one of the slightly-older-than-me, been-there-longer just said, "about how old is the planet?" i remember thinking, "lol, ok dude. totally unnecessary, she's obviously not a crazy person." and then i looked at her face, and she was caught. she said it was up for debate, but she believed it was under 10,000 years old.

i approached my colleague later to thank him asking a question i never would have thought to. he just shrugged and said, "they're everywhere. at least they don't lie when asked directly." i looked up / investigated the school that awarded the B.S. and M.S. later and it was definitely a religious institution that had a vague sounding name... and the public school district/area she was from, it wouldn't be surprising to learn they have science teachers who say shit like "evolution is a theory, like intelligent design." and the sad thing was, i don't think this person was operating in bad faith. they just had been lied to by the institutions they were raised to trust.

to me, public education is a critical component of any political project. reactionaries having control of it is a massive L and the damage cannot be overstated.