I've often heard faculty state that many high school students, particularly US, do not have the academic credentials to enter MIT (or other top ranked universities) and they sense this "knowledge" gap is broadening.

MIT has an incredible ability to excite people about science and engineering and it would be great if some attempt could be made to produce short informational/educational segments aimed towards US secondary education
in an effort to engage young people and to get them excited: key ingredients for applying oneself to learning.