> We are all literate and numerate because of university educated teachers. That fact alone proves that university is (for better or worse) is a cornerstone of all human endeavours.
No. People were literate and numerate for millennia before universities existed. Universities are not necessary preconditions for literacy or numeracy. At least 10% of children are able to read before they start school at all because their parents taught them. The first society with near universal literacy, Puritan New England did so without any universities and their teachers were in the large majority not university educated.
Then what are you trying to say? If we agree that universities are unnecessary for literacy or numeracy then university is no more a cornerstone of contemporary societies than supermarkets or libraries.
No. People were literate and numerate for millennia before universities existed. Universities are not necessary preconditions for literacy or numeracy. At least 10% of children are able to read before they start school at all because their parents taught them. The first society with near universal literacy, Puritan New England did so without any universities and their teachers were in the large majority not university educated.