A few months ago, I read an article that argued the reason why the ‘college degree’ became the standard for many jobs is because a high school diploma is now worthless. At one point, diploma holders possessed a baseline set of skills (reading, writing, arithmetic, etc.), but that’s no longer the case in the US. Kids don’t exit high school with the life skills they once did. Now, when an employer requires a bachelors degree, what they are really asking for is just a functional adult.