We're just not built for it
Unfortunately, I've come to believe that most people simply don't have the genetic makeup for STEM skills. You can teach people arithmetic, and you can get people to memorize Newton's three laws, but most people will never be able to figure out why their car won't start or their computer died. It takes a special set of skills that most people simply don't have. This is not a put down any more than saying most people don't have exceptional artistic talents. It's just where we are at our current stage of evolution.
STEM skills were a relatively late addition to the genetic makeup of our brains. In contrast, language skills go much further back and most of us are very good with them. If the average person had STEM skills comparable to their language skills, we'd all be Einsteins.
If you think about it, modern society started to succeed when we could take the insights of the relatively few who were gifted with STEM skills and put them to use in factories, in fields, etc. Until recently, most of our work was organized so that the average factory or office worker did not need significant STEM skills. That may be changing, but if so we're trying to beat evolution. It may not be possible.
