In an ideal world...
A well educated populous is vital to a well functioning democracy. People who are well suited to think for themselves are much more difficult to manipulate and better able to consider various conflicting opinions to make well informed decisions than those whose skill set is limited to rote recitation and menial tasks.
Totalitarian states tend to limit education. In the killing fields of Cambodia they passed out newspapers and shot anyone who was able to read. Even when knowledge is limited mostly to the elite it can pose a threat to regimes - such as the Tien en Mein protests in China which ended in the wholesale massacre of unarmed civilians because they were so frightened of people who dare to question absolute authority.
But as they say, you can lead a horse to water, et al. Some kids will ignore the great gift presented to them, and follow a more lazy path. (the hardest group of kids to teach, IMO, are the well-to-do. They are so used to being handed things on a silver platter - opebo style - that they are often adverse to the bit of work it takes to actually learn something). But if they have the right amount of money/connections they can still become president
.
A good education does give people more options in life. And as more jobs require a higher level of knowledge/understanding it reduces wage pressures on a number of industries.
Naturally the average
troglodyte tends to fancy themselves a good deal smarter than they actually are, and sees education as a waste on the unwashed, inferior masses when everyone should just follow them blindly instead.
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