What was Plato talking about exactly when he spoke about "education" as a means to escape ignorance (the cave)?

Metaphorically, I understand what he is talking about - how education allows us to think abstractly and see the "true world", the world of forms/extrapolate enough to make inferences on what perfection truly is for any given subject, and than figure out how to get there. (paraphrasing a lot but if you know you know).

Ok.

Its just that - in our modern world where at least in the OECD, anywhere from 40% - 60% of the population has a university degree - I don't really sense that sense of enlightenment. I have two degrees and I don't feel as if I have reached the stage that Plato and Socrates were talking about when they extol philosophy. I'm just a regular guy who knows how to read and write and do basic arithmetic - my degree (political science with a minor in stats) is just an application of those three skillsets in varying combinations. That's it.

I don't feel as if education is revealing the "true world" - its all just theory and opinion. Even in the hard sciences like Physics and Chemistry - once you get past the basics, there are extraordinary debates on the teleology of both (or any of the hard sciences). Literally every fact is questioned - its insane - and I'm not just talking about quantum phenomena.

I don't think we ever really leave the cave. Education and making sense of the world just seems to be making the cave more comfortable.