A agree very strongly with this. Not so sure about your solution if pushed too young
School level education should focus on mental development and learning how to learn. Given this, applying this to learning practical skills is a lot easier.
I think that link is interesting because a lot of people are taught things, maths in particular, in ways that leave them unable to apply it. People say they never used the maths they were taught in school, but that is because they do not have the grasp of it required to apply it to real life problems. Of course, going back to my earlier point things taught in school do not have to be directly useful (funnily enough no-one suggests kids should not be taught art or literature because they are not useful) so there does seem to be a particular issue with maths.
> hate that after leaving university it is difficult to find out what is taught current students, what are the new theories and tools that have been introduced in the last 10 years.
Or to learn new subjects and fields. IN the UK it has become a lot harder than it used to be - distance learning is a lot more expensive and adult education has been cut back.