I find it interesting there's one genre of indignant op-eds lamenting the death of creativity in education (including this one--not saying it's bad or formulaic, but it's definitely part of a genre).... and there's another genre lamenting that most college graduates are getting Starbucks barista type jobs that don't require creativity...

Much scarier than the idea that the education system is failing, is the idea that it's succeeding, but succeeding at the increasingly meager role that our society assigns it. As OP points out, there isn't a textbook with the answers for meaningful real-world problems--but there is one that tells you precisely how many pumps of chocolate syrup go in a grande mocha.

HN readers may be a priori more prepared to accept the watered-down version of this idea. "Of course the system needs creative problem solving, that's the most important part of my job!" If this describes you, congratulations, you are one of the priviliged few who has what the economist David Autor calls an "analytic" job. In fact, it's increasingly likely that the very purpose of your job is to ensure that there's no middle ground between you and those textbook-following Starbucks workers[1].

1: http://decomplecting.org/blog/2013/03/11/confessions-of-a-jo...