The purpose of public school is not to "prepare young people for the workplace" -- the purpose of public school is to educate young people so that they will be knowledgeable enough to elect leaders who will represent, and act, upon their interests. This requires knowledge of world affairs, math, reading, science, and the arts-- A liberal arts education.
But to what degree have the goals of business owners had an impact on primary school curriculum? In other words, if we think of, and describe, schools as "preparing young people for the workplace" aren't the schools working in service of employers rather than the general population? It seems that schools do a fair job of producing young consumers and workers-- but a much less impressive job of producing informed, empowered citizens.
Politicians on both the left and the right have described school as "preparation for the workplace" -- but I think for our schools and country to be successful we must move away from this kind of thinking and see schools as preparing young people to lead wisely and choose wise leaders.