All of my thoughtless coworkers are still university educated though

My guess is thoughtfulness is either something you're born with, or it's something you learn much younger than university

That’s the other function of the university system, and perhaps the primary one - the admissions system designates incoming students as talented, bright, etc. Whatever happens in class is a secondary matter.

It’s imperfect of course. But “we produce great graduates” should mostly be understood as “we pick great incoming students.”