Changing Education Paradigms

I recently watched a video of a lecture from Education Reformer, Sir Ken Robinson speculating that the education system has been created in order to mimic the modes of production. We educate students in an assembly line that separates them by date of birth, socio-economic status, and only educates them so they serve the purpose of contributing to the capitalist system in which we live.

I honestly think this may be a bit far-fetched. The system is also created so it becomes easy to identify childrens' difficulties and then correct them so they meet agreed-upon standards in an efficient manner. Many of Sir Robinson's suggestions for reform do indeed seem to incentivize more creative personalities, what he calls "divergent thinking". This seems to focus on a different kind of intelligence that our current system is unable to nurture. However the kind of management we would need to control a system like this, the costs involved and even the means by which we make the shift, go ignored. Thats not to say there aren't solutions to these objections that may make it perfectly feasible to adopt his reforms, but he certainly does not offer them within this lecture.

Education is difficult because the ends are not always clear. Is the purpose to let the individual develop into whomever they would like to be, so they feel enlightened and useful? Is the point to create the precise number of workers to fill the job market on all levels? Is it even possible to achieve both of these at the same time? And with increasing cuts to education due to the economic collapse, are any changes like this even feasible at all?