I think you may be conflating a couple of different issues. The wealth of the world being held by a relative few seems to be a problem with our economic system,

I think you may be conflating a couple of different issues. The wealth of the world being held by a relative few seems to be a problem with our economic system, not the educational system. For example, using monetary wealth as a measure of ones education would imply that Bill Gates has literally a million times better education than I do. You could make arguments, but it seems likely that while he may have started out with certain skills that were better than my own, he also benefitted from some amount of luck and the momentum that seems to be generated by the formation of a corporation that has some initial success. With regard to getting young people the right training, yes I agree. I don't think the purpose of school should be job training. It should be learning how to learn, how to critically think, and how to develop ones own viewpoint on the world. That being said, a lot of students can greatly benefit from finding an area of interest (that may not be available at school) that inspires them to learn and becomes the catalyst for increased effort towards their education in general. It sounds like you feel strongly about this topic. I'd encourage you to get involved in fixing this problem. A lot of schools these days are looking for "industry mentors". Especially at the middle school and high school level, you can make a real difference in kids lives. Not only can it allow you to address the problem you brought up, but it is also incredibly rewarding to know you are changing the course of people's lives for the better, even if in very small ways.