Education for Job or Self-esteem?

Which of the two views of American education is correct? First, a teacher says: "I'm afraid we are taking out all imaginative reading and creativity in our English classes. "In the end, education has to be about more than simply ensuring that kids can get a job. Isn't it supposed to be about making well-rounded citizens?" Next, a critic says: Standardized testing, standardized curriculum and still no redeemable results in the children other than those standardized results. Decades of trying to cram square pegs in round holes by self-important, ivory tower government academics tethered to unions whose history and roots are mired in communism. To what end? Has anyone been outside their comfy little suburban homestead and visited the inner city public schools lately? Has anyone questioned the league of 'church' aides employed by Soros organizations to 'reach out' to inner city kids and implant the concepts of socialism in those troubled youths? The answer to the above question is both - in part. If a kid can’t become literate enough to get a job and support himself, what good is the self-esteem of a well-rounded education? American education needs to prioritize its goals and impose a system to accomplish those goals. If government keeps pouring taxpayers’ monies down the educational money pit without a corresponding and steady improvement in literacy, occupational or life skills - why perpetuate the fiction?