> the OP should conclude that all forms of education should stop after the 8th-grade level for the vast majority of students (and only a minute fraction should

> the OP should conclude that all forms of education should stop after the 8th-grade level for the vast majority of students (and only a minute fraction should need to pursue higher education). That is exactly what the state of education looks like in undeveloped feudal economies I don't think you have to go back to undeveloped feudal economies. Even a generation ago, the bulk of people in the US effectively did not receive more than an elementary education. Ironically, they were often better prepared than students today to actually enter the workforce after graduating high school, since vocational education was more in vogue, and so they spent more of the four years of their high school education learning practical skills, rather than the vague, college prep holding pattern that is the norm now.