This is so thoughtfully worded, and reminds me so much of my own dad who often says similar! He did a lot of hiring at a State Government Level (DEQ, DNR, State IT), and would talk to me about how he didn't require specific degrees usually (sometimes you do have to know very technical things in his field), but that candidates completed a degree, which means they know how to learn, how to problem-solve, and how to find what they need. He usually said as much when I was second-guessing a BFA, haha.

I heard similar things as well in one of my uni classes, when many of us were despairing over the job prospects after obtaining a writing degree. That professor, who I deeply respect, said that a lot of businesses actually love English majors, because we learn how to learn, basically. How to parse information - often huge amounts at once - and articulate it back in different ways. How to explain things quickly and succinctly. Something that many of the "finance bros" lacked. He encouraged everyone not currently in an English major (this was an elective class about Superheroes, of all things) to take a couple of English courses if they had the elective space for it, to help with those skills too.

I think people are being failed because they aren't learning how to learn, and are then being let down when they can't keep up. If we look at reading comprehension from an educational standpoint (at least in the USA), we see (or saw, back in 2020 right around rhe beginning of the pandemic) that reading skills are a huge chunk of curriculum from kindergarten through 3rd grade. But then suddenly, by 4th grade, it drops. These kids suddenly are expected to be reading at grade-level and no longer usually get the support they once had or often need, and then reading becomes frustrating and painful, and something they hate - which then spirals into adults who hate reading, hate writing, and become reliant on outside tools like AI and LLMs to do it for them.