We tend to assume other people are like us and share our motivations and fundamental characteristics. Often, this assumption leads us astray. Personally I’ve known a great many people who aren’t interested in knowledge for its own sake; they just want to “cut to the chase” and get through life with as little effort as possible. We probably need institutions to cater to each type of person, and to a limited degree that’s already the case. People who go to (for example) Harvard Business School mostly want to be told the formula; people who prefer Stanford Business School mostly want a greater degree of intellectual freedom. The trick is to understand who needs what, and enable appropriate selection thereafter. As for the cost of education in the USA (insane), and as for the way it’s delivered (abysmally), that’s an entirely different subject altogether.