What is the purpose of school today?

I am not sure.  I have asked this question to over 1,000 people in the past six months and, honestly, I have not heard many answers.  It concerns me to see so many educators working so hard, yet, most cannot give the purpose for school.  

 

If an alien from another planet were to see the system..... I am guessing they would answer that it is an outdated facility in which students are taught to conform and answer multiple choice questions in order to prove their own value, the teachers' value, the school's value, the city's value, the state's value, the country's value, and the politicians' value.

 

In a perfect world......school would be a place where students would look forward to going in order to satiate their thirst for learning.  They would be safe, personalized, and engaging facilities that help inspire students to become life-long learners, while helping to prepare them for a future filled with change and uncertainty.  They would incorporate technology, 21st century skills, soft skills, in a model filled with autonomy, purpose, and mastery.  It would not be a place to hold people accountable, rather a hotspot for intellectual and emotional growth.  It would not be considered to be filled with students and future college-goers and workers, rather it would be filled with PEOPLE, who have a wide array of unique needs.