Unfortunately, I can. 30% of Americans are actively antiscience/reality and they for sure enforce it on their kids. Another 40% honestly don't give a fuck and again show that apathy to their kids. Leaves 30% who care but doesn't exclude those who are limited by socioeconomics.

You talk to people and realize their parents never drove them out of the light pollution late at night to see a meteor shower or comet pass by never showed them any of the constellations, etc. Applies to all science really but astronomy is often put on the wayside even more than others because a lot of people really aren't curious about space anymore. We've seen this with NASA funding since the end of the Apollo missions.

'staring into space' for the kid could also mean zoning out/not paying attention

I think they mean "staring into space" as in "staring into the distance during class"

You're not entirely wrong, but it's still a slap in the face to all the progress that has been made in the last 50 years for women in stem recognition.