Well the humanities were actually rigorous and elite not that long ago. My grandmother was a classicist and linguist fluent in multiple Romance languages plus Greek and Latin. English grammar has complicated rules and tenses, but they weren't simply b.s. opinion essays. Her sort of education required rare ability and serious, sustained study. It was rare for anyone to have a degree then, just a few percent iirc. Now a degree is still not utterly common, but it's way more prevalent and now a majority of Americans have at least some college exposure.
Degrees used to be something for the wealthy or the really bright. After WW2 the GI Bill led to a rapid expansion in college and while this was good, it was not without issues.
Well the humanities were actually rigorous and elite not that long ago. My grandmother was a classicist and linguist fluent in multiple Romance languages plus Greek and Latin. English grammar has complicated rules and tenses, but they weren't simply b.s. opinion essays. Her sort of education required rare ability and serious, sustained study. It was rare for anyone to have a degree then, just a few percent iirc. Now a degree is still not utterly common, but it's way more prevalent and now a majority of Americans have at least some college exposure.
Degrees used to be something for the wealthy or the really bright. After WW2 the GI Bill led to a rapid expansion in college and while this was good, it was not without issues.