In the industrial revolution, we had public education for basic reading and writing. to learn technical skills (machining, accounting, etc.).

Now in this new post-industrial world, perhaps we need to add something that is a universal like R&Wing. It might be basic programming - enough to deal with basic data/text manipulation. It might be basic web development / online tech. It might even just be a big sampler of different things to show them how to solve problems creatively.