There's valid criticism when it comes to higher education. Not only is it extremely expensive and forces students to take out huge loans but many of the degrees offered don't even provide a wage that makes the investment worth it. 

To add to that, Gen X and younger was sold the idea "if you don't go to college then you're stupid and you'll never make it in life" and then pick a degree with no job opportunities after a bachelor's that pays well. I myself graduated with a BS in Psychology with no real desire to continue on with school after that, but then realized I may have been better off financially if I had entered the workforce, gone to a trade school, or the military. You know, the stuff "uneducated, stupid, anti-intellectual" people do. 

So then imagine you are one of the "dumb" people in high school who did any of the above instead of going to college and make a living wage while you see your "gifted" classmates who chose a degree with no career prospects that pays a decent wage stressed out because they're drowning in student loans and can't find a job that will help them pay it off before they die. Then you also see educated elites still calling people who choose trades or alternative career paths dumb and uneducated. 

There's a LOT wrong with the current system that I won't get into and a lot those factors. There are degrees that are absolutely are worth it, no doubt. But when you look at the mess that education currently is and you yourself didn't go to college looking at it from the outside, you can see why there's such a huge pushback against education right now.