Is Education for Industry or for Thinking?

I read Guy Standing's short essay on education in Monocle's Issue #195. I have mixed thoughts about Guy's arguments. I think the introduction explains the whole article well: The acquisition of knowledge is becoming more commodified, seen as a way of filling gaps in the workforce. But for a society to thrive, it needs to remember how to value learning. I understand that education previously aimed to teach people how to think (influenced by thinkers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau). This focus has been decreasing over time, shifting the main purpose of education to fulfilling industry's needs. Humanity is increasingly abandoning critical thinking from multiple angles (e.g., AI is also nudging people to think less). People think less and follow what's given to them, hand over their judgment because they don't have the right mental tools to think clearly in different situations. I share the worries. However, this doesn't mean we change the whole education system to teach people how to think…