If we could focus our schools on one single thing, it would be Critical Thinking Skills. It's how humans are supposed to think, but it has to be taught, and it has to be practiced. Everything else can be looked up on Google, but Critical Thinking Skills require active intervention to learn. Critical Thinking Skills allow us to immediately recognize and reject nonsense like propaganda and scams, and make proper decision based on facts, not vibes.
Those who don't have Critical Thinking Skills adopt other chaotic methods of thinking, like Faith-Based Thinking, where you choose to believe anything an accepted authority tells you, no matter how outlandish. Or they embrace conspiracy theories, or fall prey to cults, like Scientology, Mormons, or MAGA.
Conservatives are actively fighting the teaching of Critical Thinking Skills, claiming it encourages children to challenge/ defy authority figures, which is a healthy thing in a healthy society. The real reason is that it teaches people how to recognize their insidious propaganda, which is so vitally important to MAGA success. If people start seeing that propaganda for what it really is, Conservatism is doomed.