Definitely had a sheltered public school experience, took AP stats my senior year and realized all the top students were sharing answers from an earlier period through text messages. After figuring this out I too joined in on the action, then shortly after I quickly deskilled.

Suppose it's good to learn how elastic the brain is, in both directions, at a young age where it doesn't matter.

> at a young age where it doesn't matter.

Doesn't it matter the most at a young age?

Not really. I would rather not find out later in life, with way more responsibilities, that when you purposely neglect mental skills they atrophy quite fast. People already have a hard time noticing that they age, being able to truly self asses is a skill that few, including myself here, possess.