It may have been, it's relatively common for something like this to be included in coverage of Vietnam and the cold war. Current events related blocks are also often put in social studies curriculum and propaganda is a often a suggested tie-in.
While your teacher sounds like they went above and beyond, they probably weren't working against the system. And that's coming from a burned out ex-teacher. We have issues in our schools but for the most part curriculum designers are trying to help. For every terrible Florida-like headline depicting a leap backwards there are many steps forward taken under the radar
Eh, 10 is average for an untrained commoner. As an untrained commoner myself, I don't know that I'd do all that well at hiding in the woods, carrying a traveler's pack and wearing paladin armor...
Positive progress has been made at least, Minneapolis has done quite a bit recently to change this
My buddy has been playing co-op with me using GeForce now and it's worked great so far
Divinity: Original Sin (and it's sequel) are two of my favorites that I played split screen with my wife. They're classic crpgs, so can be a bit slower paced, but both have great stories and are very good about allowing freedom to both people playing