Desiring something else is counterproductive, imho. If education really worked then manual labor and working at a fast food restaurant would be a high paying job. The laws of supply and demand would make it happen since very few people would want a job that didn't use creative skills. If education really worked, we'd look forward to Friday mornings the way we now look forward to Friday afternoons. I like what you say, but I'd like to add that all students who graduate high school would treat people with respect and integrity.
Education does work.
In my 12 years of teaching, I have often been astounded by the difference in skills and insights that students and, yes, teachers and parents display because of the educational process. Look at the advances we've made as a society in our attitudes toward each other and ourselves. Of course we have a long way to go, but we humans are full of flaws, and our education will always be a long process. It would be the demise of telemarketing, because intelligent people would not have inclination to invade the privacy of another's' home for pay. I'm not sure anything ever really works for long anymore including my toaster which was only 3 years old and had to be replaced.