The Industrial Revolution in the mid-1700s made it necessary for people to have the ability to do exactly what we still consider as educational necessity. You should be able to......
1 ....read well enough to convey messages and understand directions, sometimes complex directions and meanings in those messages.
2 ....know some math well enough to measure, cipher numerical problems (add and subtract) and perhaps even project something (daily production of an assembly line, tonnage of freight, etc.)
3 ....some basic science and chemistry so you didn't mix hot ashes with explosives or poison your customers because of fundamentally ignorant mistakes.
This education has taken a finer point in recent years, but it stood well the test of time for about 150 years until science and computers made more education both desirable and practical.
