A good education teaches both critical thinking and what I like to call 'bullshit detection'. There's a lot of overlap in the two, but these days there's a lot of BS around presenting numbers and then BSing about what they mean - so numeracy is an important part of BS detection.

There's no reason this might only happen in college, never mind the elite ones (although I've known a few people who got degrees at that 'little college back East' who seem to have missed that bit of their education).

If you've got kids, consider handing them a copy of "How to Lie with Statistics". I first read it in Jr. High School, loved it - and came away understanding a good bit about statistics - and misdirection. :)