What is the purpose of education?

For quite a while, I've had the view that we spend a huge amount of time educating students primarily toward high-paying jobs with little emphasis on creating quality citizens with jobs. I guess an argument can be made that the push toward high career jobs is necessary to help students repay a mountain of college loans. In any case, I'm glad that I'm not alone in my view of how we educate our children. Today I read an article that shared some of my views about how we educate. Below is an except from an article titled Selling Education, Manufacturing Technocrats, Torturing Souls: The Tyranny of Being Practical by William Astore:

Based on a decidedly non-bohemian life - 20 years' service
in the military and 10 years teaching at the college level - I'm convinced
that American education, even in the worst of times, even recognizing
the desperate need of most college students to land jobs, is far too
utilitarian, vocational, and narrow. It's simply not enough to prepare
students for a job: We need to prepare them for life, while challenging
them to think beyond the confines of their often parochial and
provincial upbringings. (As a child of the working class from a
provincial background, I speak from experience.)