I totally agree with you that the current "education [system] is the main problem."
My high school (1960-1963) experience, plus all the years prior, gets a grade of D- for caliber of teachers and what was taught in text books.
Teachers in the United States are collected from the "bottom of the barrel" while in those top level (see image below) nations only the top best "of the barrel" are allowed.
English grammar instructions was non-existence.
History lessons were slanted towards "America is great, and is what really counts in the world."
It was about 20 years after high school that I learned, by accident, that England was an island as I thought it was part of that huge land mass called Europe. Today I could not locate were Ireland and Scotland are located on a world map, and I'm still confused with the term Great Britain, as I think its slang for England, that and the term United Kingdom is reference to the imaginary world or Harry Potter.
Even today a person from Canada referenced Ontario, and I thought this was a country. But then another "It was about 20 years after high school that I learned, by accident" that Canada was not a territory of the United States populated by fur traders.
I'm sure this quality of education still exist today based on:
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
