There was a time in American history when that was the entire purpose of “going to college”. Certainly, no one needed a college degree to pursue business in the early part of the 20th Century. The popular culture of the time reflects this; that Joe So-and-so was “a college man” was often a source of bemusement, but by no means was his degree considered essential to the mission of the company. Or, take the case of the Scarecrow in “The Wizard of Oz” (1939); his self-effacement at not having “a brain” belied what was probably a lifetime of “learning for its own sake” for which the Wizard aptly awarded a college diploma.
There’s also another NYTime’s piece this morning which sort of stumbles on its own lead:
Economists have a term for the gap that exists between the incomes of college graduates and high school graduates: the college wage premium. It reflects the relative demand in the labor market for college-educated workers. When employers want more college graduates, the premium goes up; when there is a surplus of college grads, the premium goes down. After World War II, the G.I. Bill flooded the American labor market with college diplomas, and for a few decades, the gap between the median income of high school graduates and that of college graduates remained pretty narrow; having a college degree produced an income boost of 30 percent or so. Americans Are Losing Faith in the Value of College. Whose Fault Is That? - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
IOW, the returning GIs of our grandparents’ generation weren’t necessarily pursuing higher wages by going to college. They wanted to leave farm work behind; they wanted to get off the factory floor. They wanted jobs that required “brains”.