I realise that by merely raising a quizzical eyebrow about the self-evident priority of these goals I am going to be damned for being out of touch with "the real world".
Some see education as a means to an end; others see it as an end in itself.
I've gotten past it. I don't know how old I was when I realized that the vast majority of students see education as a meal ticket. "What are you going to do with your degree?" "Oh, I don't know. Hang it on the wall, maybe. More likely, it'll collect dust on a shelf." "No, I mean, how will you market yourself?" That sort of thing. To this day I still see education as a goal in itself, but I've been keenly aware that many folks do not.
We roll with it. We even exploit the fact, using it as a recruiting edge. (That's probably why Lulu notices that it is being "pushed" in his university.)
It is true that university education is the means to an end, but nonetheless, it shouldn't be the be all/end all of the matter. Education is there to make people into well rounded, intelligent human beings as much as it is there to create job opportunities.
