Comment 28 by Mr. Rerek :

The problem that exists in America is one of critical thinking. The last decades have been aimed at entertaining people rather than informing or aiding in how they come to know the world. Perception is taken as seriously as facts and popular superstitions are entertained as seriously as the discovery of the human genome. Secondary schools are micro managed by politically based school boards where not only science is attenuated, but also literature.

That has to be one of the most concise and accurate statements describing the problem I have yet seen. I had a similar experience as yours (with your niece) tutoring a high-school freshman (9th grade, 15 year-old) in chemistry and pre-Algebra. He too was clueless about science, yet he knew an incredible amount of detail about every popular rock group on the planet, every popular video game to be had, the actors in any popular disaster movie currently playing etc..