I totally agree with the statement above, and with everything else in your article but I have to add to this another statement. I think that not only the education system is broken; something is also wrong with the traditional employment system. I spent 20 years in the corporate tech world, and 10+ years in academia prior to that (PhD, postdocs, teaching), raised 3 children. Two of them rebelled the traditional career path within 2 years after graduating from universities. They did try, but eventually rejected it. We did not push them back, we did "let them be" but it took us some time to make peace with their life choices. Both used to be brilliant students, but now they are struggling financially, barely able to support themselves. My elder son lives lives Spain on perpetual student visas collecting masters degrees, supports himself by various gigs, which he enjoys doing. Before that he worked for a few years for the education system in Spain, which he enjoyed doing, his students loved him, but he had to switch to a student visa because of his status as a foreigner. My daughter has MSc in neuroscience and wanted to do art therapy but since it is not covered by insurance, there is no market for it, so she failed to make it work and eventually made herself unemployable. My youngest chose to build his financial security first, so he is an account manager in high tech, doing well financially and otherwise. He doesn't hate his job but he doesn't like it either; he hopes to "retire" in his 30's, and then to start doing what he enjoys.

To me the life trajectories of my children is the proof of what we already knew: you can't fight the system; you need to find a way to work with it based on your values and priorities.

So, do I think it is hopeless? No. I admire your ability to change the system while working with it, not fighting it, not rejecting it. Thank you for your work, and for this great article.