We do have three or four Lug/OSug variants here in central New Mexico, and there are some teens in them, but in attempting to jump-start what you suggested in the schools, I've noticed very little internal motivation in kids to put anything more complicated than a game console together. I tried teaching / volunteering in gifted classrooms for several years, and, without externally applied motivation, it fell flat as soon as the bell rang.

I blame two things: high-bandwidth one-way entertainment and authoritarian schools. Truth is, sitting still and accepting what's offered is what's rewarded in most classrooms. Even in the gifted classrooms, most of the kids' brain cycles were spent in figuring out what behavior was going to be rewarded.