Are we heading into a skill based society over a education society?

First, thanks for a thought provoking question. On reflection, I believe you are right, and I am displeased with that situation. When I was in school, a Bachelor's was a ticket to many jobs, in and out of the field, and a Master's was golden. It was assumed that college trained the mind to think, and the psyche to appreciate culture and society. But at this moment in time, there are two tracks in higher education, technical which is valued, and the rest of majors that are considered frivolous. I have long questioned the value of a degree in fashion merchandising, but the whole of the arts seems now to be discounted by corporate America.

A union apprentice program as an electrician, plumber, or HVAC installer/repairman probably has a more positive impact on lifetime earnings that most degrees in the arts.

What saddens me is that the skills and knowledge gained in a BA degree add depth, understanding, texture and cohesion to our society.

I am saddened by the fact that I could not have the career I enjoyed were I to start today with a major in Philosophy and a minor in Psych.

I believe that it is correct! Ever since google has introduced their own courses and the world is becoming more digital everyday, conventional education has become quite outdated. However, this does not mean that a degree is completely useless today. But, if you are an expert at what you do and have skills to operate a program that not many people have then obviously the company will choose you over a person with a degree but no skill. A skilled person is more valuable to the company than a person with a degree. I hope that cleared your question. In short, yesn. Yes, we are becoming a skill-based society.

It's not the degrees so much as the cost of the degrees and all social baggage that attending university seems to come with these days. But as our future is probably going to be largely automated we'll always need educated STEM professionals to design and maintain those automated systems. It'll just be a world with less need for the "soft sciences". So we likely will get to a point where people question the wisdom of going six figures into debt to get an advanced degree in Gender Conflict Studies. 

 Western culture has always been about the street smarts z

 . . . . . . . . . .

 , , , , , , , , , ,