I do think the perception matters in these instances. Someone who is killing in combat may have the perception of protecting freedom and democracy, but they are still pulling the trigger. A mail clerk, by contrast, is just sorting mail. A nurse is just treating a patient. The big-picture contributions may never occur to the individual, be it aiding an unjust military operation or an unjust private industry.

It’s a testament to the success of the propaganda surrounding public schools that you have conflated the institution of public education with education simpliciter. Education needn’t occur in an authoritarian classroom. As for the difference between whims and instructions, they’re effectively the same. Teachers set the classroom rules. We have children requesting to use the restroom, even being denied such a “privilege.” Who are you allowed to talk to and when? The teacher decides. Who can you sit next to? The teacher decides. Want to associate with someone in a different grade? Not permitted. Hungry? You can eat at the appointed time and no other. Etc. We somehow have accepted that school children ought to be treated like prisoners rather than free members of our society.