I agree with you 100 percent. Some where along the way, a college education got confused with vocational training. Now, a bachelor’s degree is largely worthless and a master’s is a baseline requirement for advancement. Soon, the Ph.D. will be standard issue for employment in most white collar fields.
Soon, the Ph.D. will be standard issue for employment in most white collar fields.”
I think you could argue that that is sort of the case in some European countries, esp in big business culture (my experience is in the German speaking businesses). There were a LOT of doctorates floating around there.
Part of that is by design.
It came about when teachers became "educators" and schools and colleges became more of a business, focused on cash flow, and less focused on what is best and most appropriate for individual students.
To some extent students are now nothing more than consumers of the "product" churned out by schools and colleges.
The NEA and "professional educators" at all levels did everything possible to kill the Vocational/Technical school alternative because they wanted to channel all the state and federal money to themselves. They want students to "buy" their product as opposed to seeking alternatives.
One of the things they had to do to accomplish this was convince government, parents and potential students that every student, no matter how qualified or capable, has a "right" to attend college.
They also had to convince them that college prepared students to step right into a well paying career position as opposed to receiving a broad education.
Of course creating racial resentment and racial pandering is an important part of their strategy to boost headcount and cash flow.
And they have been quite successful as wittnessed by the fact that a huge number of functionally illiterate students graduate from high school and go on to college although not really qualified to do so.
A generation or two ago many of these students would have been encouraged to learn a trade through apprentice programs, OJT or Vo-Tech school - now they are rushed into college.