Usually people with better education are able to get better jobs. In other words, they have more chances to choose a good job while people with little or no education don't. It seems that the purpose of education is to make people get jobs. But it isn't true.
Some people may think that a person spends the best years of his life to get education only to make a living. This was probably one of the reasons of education. In fact, if education is just a way of making a living, people don't need to spend so much time in school. If people just want to make a living, they can get a short-time education. Subjects like history and geography need not be taught to everyone. Even language and math need not be taught in detail (详细地), either.
It is clear that education is much more than teaching a man to get a way of living.
Education is mainly for improving a man. It is not only to teach him to speak, read and write, but also to develop his other abilities. It can make him a wise man and enjoy the achievements of humans. Education is to make a man live a better life. Educated people are expected to be able to listen to good music, read good books, watch plays and, most of all, take an interest in the world.
I would agree that making a good living is an important reason for education, but certainly not the most important one.