I don't think we're at the point where degrees are required for everything, but we are at the point where they are required for almost all decent jobs that lead

I don't think we're at the point where degrees are required for everything, but we are at the point where they are required for almost all decent jobs that lead to decent lifestyles, especially in the US. We've been at this point for decades. This is the major point of contention in the US and around the world. In the US specifically, Americans want a good life without working for the education it requires. Most other cultures readily see that this is impossible today. That's why you get so many immigrants focusing on education and so many Americans focusing, I kid you not, on anti intellectualism and hate for learning. These ideas then transform into hate for immigrants because "they're taking our jobs" when in reality, the Americans claiming that don't have the mental capacity to even reach such a conclusion because they have trouble even graduating from our high schools, high schools that are some of the most dumbed down on earth. Talk about entitlement. Yes, this was possible in America in the sixties and seventies, but the world has changed and Americans haven't kept up. I'm certain this situation is playing itself out in plenty of other places in the world, but it's especially egregious here because of our high tech economy. I see this disparity between the educated and non educated, between urban and rural people as the core of much domestic and international conflict in the world this past a hundred years or so, a conflict that seems to have no easy solutions or simple answers.