I'll agree that those things are indeed hard work, and important work. I think I do my fair share of it.

I would argue though, that you need really solid literacy and numeracy skills to be an effective worker. You say that you would rather work with an illiterate thinker, than a literate non-thinker. I don't buy that. These are the basic skills that can put good thinking to use. If we can't analyze and communicate (the end point of literacy and numeracy training) our thoughts, then they are for nought.