[upvotinglurker]

To the extent society needs education as civic socialization, it seems like it should be done at the pre-college level.

In the US today, it is happening neither in high school nor in college (at least for most people at most high schools and colleges). The former is mostly about keeping youth supervised while parents work and enabling sufficient standardized test scores to get into college; the latter about getting the piece of paper that allows you to get a livable-wage job.