I disagree with that. The brain is shaped significantly but how it's trained when you are young. The more flexible you make kids, the more adaptable they will become. You can't smoosh rote education into kids monolithically and expect them to think different.
I would argue that never in history has knowledge mattered less. Rote education is a waste.
What's useful is critical thinking, adaptability, the ability to learn new things, the ability to interact with different settings.
I accept that you disagree, and I have read your reason for disagreeing - but I disagree with your statement.
When I was young, I loved to play with Lego, but my parents where poor back then, so they bought me copy-lego from Hong Kong when I asked for technic-lego.
I love technic-lego, it is absolutely fantastic and so educational - my friend on the other hand, his parents bought him technic-legos, a big set. Over the summer he built a remote-controlled car, and a few weeks after that he built a remote controlled detonator which he used to light up firecrackers from a safe distance.
If we all had - and we do have - the chance to start our life with the right tools - most of us in the world would be extremely useful instead of feeling useless in situations of mass-panic and the need for rescue.
My friend is now finishing his second PhD at the University of Oslo, he has won several prizes in programming on an extreme high level, but our IQ is the same - we are both very intelligent people - there just was not enough technic-lego for both of us to go around, so I became good at other things while he became a specialist on high tech.
During primary and secondary school - both of us got through it with a big bore as we understood the mathematics a few grades above us because we had programed together in the summer before we started school on his dads calculator from when he attended the university.
When we have the best teachers and the best tools - that is something to stretch for. The ruling elite has robbed us for knowledge and stirred up a whole lot of trouble that was not needed.
I think you are mismatching knowledge, access, and education.
Are there examples of the type approach you lay out being successful? What evidence or research supports what you laid out?
If nothing else, it created an interesting discussion!