Few degree programs are tailored to an individual. School is a place of babysitting of students, giving them time to figure out how to learn and work with othe

Few degree programs are tailored to an individual. School is a place of babysitting of students, giving them time to figure out how to learn and work with others. And it's designed so that if a student hands in assignments and shows up to class, they will finish with some kind of a degree. Otherwise, or in conjunction with this effort, students are free to do as they please--they may try to start a business, join the honors program, start a club, join a sport, and/or do anything else. This means that a degree and grades are not necessarily proof of competence or a judgement of one's skill, but show the degree holder has been exposed to an environment where they had to learn and get along with others. The piece of paper after four to five years is just the minimum notification they have to give to kick a student out into the real world--it is up to the student himself to have become functional enough in that time to know to avoid a mind-sucking career.