Notice how popular the "Why go to college?!" conversation is now adays? I can assure you that conversation (in the context you mean) is not happening all over,

Notice how popular the "Why go to college?!" conversation is now adays? I can assure you that conversation (in the context you mean) is not happening all over, but rather limited to a small subset of Internet echo chambers. My kids still get the same rhetoric from all directions. Unfortunately, that rhetoric doesn't include a cost/value justification. Education is an investment and a means to an end, but most people don't see it that way.