Preaching to the choir here. We have a world full of Wikipedia and we could put every HowTo on a Wiki, but we rather suck down Rupert Murdoch and Elon Musk bullshit, "Trickle Down Garbage" from Disney. Wealth televangelism networks.

“Public education does not serve a public. It creates a public. And in creating the right kind of public, the schools contribute toward strengthening the spiritual basis of the American Creed. That is how Jefferson understood it, how Horace Mann understood it, how John Dewey understood it, and in fact, there is no other way to understand it. The question is not, Does or doesn't public schooling create a public? The question is, What kind of public does it create? A conglomerate of self-indulgent consumers? Angry, soulless, directionless masses? Indifferent, confused citizens? Or a public imbued with confidence, a sense of purpose, a respect for learning, and tolerance? The answer to this question has nothing whatever to do with computers, with testing, with teacher accountability, with class size, and with the other details of managing schools. The right answer depends on two things, and two things alone: the existence of shared narratives and the capacity of such narratives to provide an inspired reason for schooling.” ― Neil Postman, The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School, 1995

They did teach Critical Thinking Skills back then, but students back then were EXACTLY like students today. Some are smart, and it sticks, some are stupid, and it doesn't, and most are in between, with mixed results. Some get it, and some don't. Then there are those with good Critical Thinking Skills, who choose to use them to commit evil. That seems to be common among politicians and business people. They often seem to believe their own propaganda, but they know better, they are just selling it to the rubes, who weren't trained in school to use their brains properly.

Instead of thinking about age, think about educational level. Studies have shown that the more education a person gets, the more liberal they tend to be. College grads are more liberal than HS grads, Masters grads are more liberal, and PhDs, are even more liberal. The more intelligent a person gets, the more they reject illogical and/or disproven conservative propaganda.

The difference between yesterday and today, is that current Conservatives are actively trying to avoid teaching Critical Thinking Skills that give future adult citizens the tools to question and reject their propaganda. In 2012, Texas Republicans even added it to their official party platform:

We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.

They literally said that they don't want students learning to think for themselves, and "undermining parental authority." So how are they supposed to become parents themselves someday? Will they always have to consult with their old parents on everything (who, ironically, were educated when Critical Thinking Skills weren't literally banned in schools).

The answer, of course, is that they don't give a rat's ass about parental authority, they just don't want the next generation growing up to question their POLITICAL authority.

Imagine opposing something that they themselves call "Higher Order Thinking Skills?" Why would you not want every citizen of your country thinking on a higher level, unless you prefer a stupid nation over an intelligent one? And why would that be? The only possible answet is because stupid citizens are far easier to manipulate.

Also remember that Texas is such a huge state, and buys so many textbooks, that most textbook companies write their textbooks to be acceptable in Texas. That means that textbooks will avoid any use of Critical Thinking to appease Texas, but then schools all over America will be using those same intellectually compromised textbooks.