I agree with you. Without a sizeable baseline of knowledge, students cannot hone the ability to analyse information, much less synthesise and create new products. I try to create pockets of time to force even my weak-progress kids to think. Specifically come up with their original Show Not Tell phrases. Their phrases mayn’t garner them as many marks as those bombastic phrases paraded about by tuition centres, but they will do well to boost their self-esteem