The vast majority of us live in economic systems that value profitability over human dignity - violating Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, where "Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection."
As a result, we have an economic apartheid where a small minority enjoys a life of abundance, a somewhat larger minority (often in certain desirable occupations accessed via competitive education) has an existence worthy of human dignity, and the majority is condemned to an undignified existence. It is ridiculous to claim that education is the key to eradicating poverty when the world already has enough resources and economic activity to allow for every human being to have their basic needs met - but no, they cannot allowed to be "freeloaders", they must earn their keep by qualifying themselves through scarce educational avenues that they cannot afford to access.
The Human Capital Development model of education, by reducing education to nothing more than preparation for work, feeds into, and exacerbates, this inequality.
What would an economic system that prioritized dignity look like? It's hard to say, but perhaps people who experience a system of education that doesn't traumatize beneficiaries into accepting indignities might be able to envision and actualize it? It might include
- Cooperatives that eliminate asymmetric* Employer-Employee relationships
- Slower lifestyles, with less consumption and "economic growth", which is more sustainable for us, and indeed for every lifeform that calls this planet home.
- Elimination of profitability as a goal, because that always pushes enterprises to exploit resources (natural and human) - profit means that either the customer is exploited (into paying more than was necessary for the enterprise to be viable) and/or the employees are being exploited (by receiving less wages than the enterprise could afford if it didn't hide behind "market norms") and/or the planet and other life forms on it.
- Community-based living arrangements with human-human connections rather than nuclear families living in isolation from their neighbours
* asymmetric in that Employers wield power over Employees
So what would an education system that didn't traumatize beneficiaries into accepting indignities look like? We can start with exactly the above points, and see how it evolves:
- Collaboration that eliminates asymmetric Educator-Student relationships
- Education that doesn't seek to produce "workers" as quickly and as cheaply as possible - instead, education where each participant can pursue their goals** at their own pace**
- Not-for-profit. \swarm it^ will have to cover its expenses (and this may require fees unless other sources of funding can be found), and this will include paying everyone who works in it a dignified remuneration, but there is no requirement for it to be an enterprise that will turn a profit for its shareholders.
- Community-based learning arrangements. Communities will be fluid and emerge and fade based on the needs of the participants. For example some could be based on common experiences and identities, some based on preexisting relationships, some on a specific topic/interest, and some can be location based (especially for in-person or hybrid communities),
** there is some privilege in this because in the absence of good social protection, some participants will be forced to make choices that make them gainfully employed faster. At present this is a reality that we must accept, but we can search for ways to eliminate this injustice - for example, community based safety nets