I think part of the problem is that we don't tell people why they're in school learning things. I certainly thought my English classes were useless not even two

I think part of the problem is that we don't tell people why they're in school learning things. I certainly thought my English classes were useless not even two years ago. I'm sure you've heard the classic "when am I ever going to need to know about Hamlet in the real world?" School, at least beyond elementary education, isn't about knowing all the arbitrary points that you learn. It about learning to learn. The problem, however, is that you can't simply teach people how to learn, so the content you cover in classes is simply a proxy for the real "meat" of education. Some might argue that you can apply this by teaching only classes in a student's focus area, but I argue that being exposed to historical information, statistics, math, computer science, biology, etc. has made me a much more well-rounded human and I possess the skills necessary to understand just about any concept presented at a sub-journal level. That's a skill I've noticed not many have, and it has proven incredibly valuable.