I would argue that ethics are not really what a school should be teaching. Ideally that would be taught at home so the teachers wouldn’t even need to worry about it.
But the basics like reading, writing, arithmetic, and the Oxford comma should be taught in school.
It might have worked in the 60s but with the class war that was waged against the middle and lower class there is simply no time to educate your children in your home.
In todays dollars my dad made a million a year. My mom was able to stay home and math the fuck out of me. I knew the 12X12 multiplication table before I went into kindergarten.
My sister has twins that are 13 and their dad stopped paying child support years ago. She is now going to the university and cleaning vacated apartments to pay for things PELL grants and loans don’t cover. I was over at her apartment the other day and she got home from work and was asleep on the couch in about five minutes.
Like most things this is a economic problem.