I'm chiming in unprompted, because I agree with you with a big "but" in the middle.

Yeah, the educational system is pretty much a scam nowadays, and I think this is applicable around the world. It's geared toward producing workers more than it is toward actually educating children, and it shows. Plus private education's a big business first and foremost, with public education having suffered greatly for it.

And here comes the "but": I think it's worth it anyway, for the most part and as long as it isn't a major economic drain.

The reason I believe this is because, as all things, education's on a spectrum. Some teachers are in it to clock in, clock out, and cash the paycheck. But there still are many who are trying to provide genuine education, even when constrained by how things work nowadays.

In addition to this, while most contemporary educational systems have major shortcomings, like not encouraging the development of critical thinking, stuffing the brain with half-contextualised information, and now the trend of having LLMs write everything from theses to letters of intent, it's still a good disseminator of information. Plus having a curriculum makes it easier to navigate and advance through said information.

As such, I believe education's still worth it, but that it needs a lot of compensating from the parents if it is to be optimised - things like telling your son the truth about the world (that, indeed, there is no guarantee that education will bring him a comfortable life, for instance), taking active interest in the subjects he's attending, recontextualising the information he gets from school/studies whenever necessary, compensating for gaps, etc.

It's at least easier to develop one's knowledge base and understanding of things while attending school than it is without. Plus borders are slowly turning into pure abstracts, with people being able to take jobs anywhere. So if his education is not properly recognised in his home country, he could always try to equivalate abroad - not all countries are dumb enough to turn down educated people.

And it's not even just about the education, it's also about the social context and development, getting used to teamwork, socialisation, etc. These, I think, are essential for development, because it's becoming harder and harder to even socialise with people.