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Author Daniel Quinn interprets the institution of schooling through the eyes of the ape Ishmael.
Ishmael speaking to his protege Julie:
Mother Culture's deception here is that schools exist to serve the needs of people. In fact, they exist to serve the needs of your economy. The schools turn out graduates who can't live without jobs but who have no job skills, and this suits your economic needs perfectly.
Julie speculating on why schools don't turn out graduates with all the skills needed to survive and be self-sufficient:
What would happen if we turned out a class of new and improved students with a hundred-percent survival value? The first thing I thought of is that they'd go for jobs as wilderness guides or something. But that's completely stupid. The point is, if they had a hundred-percent survival value, they wouldn't need jobs at all. Locking up the food wouldn't keep them in the prison. They'd be out. They'd be free! Of course a few of them would still elect to stay behind-but that would be a matter of choice. I'll bet half would stay [inside the Taker prison]. Even if half stayed, the door would be open. People would come pouring out. A lot would stay in, but a lot would come out.
Ishmael: You mean that, for a lot of you, getting a job and working until retirement age doesn't look like heaven. So now you know why your schools turn out graduates with no survival value.
Julie: Since [graduates] don't have any survival value, they're forced to enter the Taker economy. Even if they'd rather opt out of that economy, they can't.
Ishmael: Once again, the essential point to note is that, for all your complaining, your schools are doing just what you actually want them to do, which is to produce workers who have no choice but to enter your economic system, presorted into various grades.