They are all over Boston.

Sadly, yes. A third grade transfer student from a good school district might very well be smarter than their teacher. Especially in rural areas.

A good teacher sees being corrected as a learning experience, and encourages their students to question them respectfully.

Bad teachers see it as a challenge to their authority.

Toothpicks work great. They are wood or plastic so they won’t conduct electricity.

Once updates end in October, Windows 10 won’t be secure and probably shouldn’t be allowed to connect to the internet. It will still continue to function though. You can buy a year of extended support for Windows 10 for $30, but it’s unclear whether there will be support after that.

Probably best to start switching to something else, or plan to run that PC offline.