> I think the evidence is against you. The economics research shows that the 'best returns' come from early education, with diminishing returns the further progress is made.

There isn't a single country where majority of the population does some sort of research. And guess what, that's what people in the future will have to be doing for their jobs.

> It is counter intuitive I know, but mass education is similar to macro economics. Helping everybody can help nobody.

You need a new system though. Fundamentally I think that one of the issues of the system is a lack of exploration. Like there are so many areas where you can go to extreme detail but people don't explore them because the educational system limits your worldview by limiting your choices. I guess it does get slightly better in college but not by much.

> South Korea and Japan put a lot of focus on education, work insane hours for comparatively low pay, pay stupid rents and are also in a wage stagnation.

I think that some of these issues are somewhat cultural though. To me it feels like both SK and Japan still cling to old social structures to a detriment of the society. The recent president Park scandal highlights quite a few of these issues.