Well, yes, of course. And I don't fault anyone who takes advantage of the many opportunities have developed only in recent years that amount to a "short cut" to a college degree. They want a decent job and that's a requirement for most of them.
However, that wasn't the focus of the conversation when I wrote my post. Rather it was about how educated the public is these days. That is what I responded to with my comments.
To be an educated person is not the same as accumulating the prerequisites needed for holding some particular job.
A cut- rate college degree won't get anyone much of a job.
More likely it will just set you back 4 years and put you in debt.
The industrial model state university is a money machine for the
community that houses it. There is very little if any benefit to
students who set out to cheat themselves.
Fool and his money soon parted is always going to be true.
Those who think everything is always getting worse will always
think they are right, facts never matter.
Having the skills for some kind of work is exactly what it means
to be educated.
Try to impress a farmer with hoe educated you are and see how it
turns out. Or a master machinest or an opera singer or or or.
Nobody is educated in everything.
By "educated" we often mean having a broad base of
knowledge and a degree of associated wisdom. But an
"Educated" person lacking any useful skill is pretty pathetic.
If you feel like saying-
Did you get a university degree?
Do you consider yourself to be an educated person?
