OK, now that we are on the cusp of seeing higher education mean perfectly nothing, in fact, people WITH degrees being significantly less capable than people without, let's talk about bringing back the guild system.
In a modern society, it would work something like this.
Within a craft, there are titled masters who have achieved their rank by completing their masterwork and bring reviewed by other masters. Masters are hired directly by companies and given projects to work on.
The masters subcontract out that work to journeymen and apprentices. They review the work and make sure everything is good, stamp it with their stamp of approval, etc...
If someone wants to work with masters or craftsmen outside of the craft, then they are boycotted and other masters refuse to work for them. If the masters are as good as they should be, that should be enough influence and power to keep people coming back to them. If they are corrupt and incompetent, then they will lose their reputation entirely and be left begging for scraps while some other group of people become masters.
Apprentices start work for a master as soon as they can. This can be as young as 5 years old. Apprenticeship replaces school. You don't go to kindergarten, you go to work where you are given extremely simple tasks and given basic education.
By the time you reach 14 or so, you pass your master's exam and are named a journeymen. At which point, you are kicked out and forced to move to another city and work for other masters for 3-6 months at a time. After doing this for several years, you find a master willing to support you as you work on your masterpiece, a project that proves that you are capable of performing your craft. Once you complete the masterpiece, you are tested by various masters and named a master yourself. At which point, you can be employed directly by people or companies. A master is expected to take on apprentices and support journeymen and such.
When the master gets too old to do his craft and too old to teach others, he shifts towards gatekeeping and politicking. He knows how important reputation is so he oversees other masters and makes sure that that the reputation is maintained.
I don't know how to start this process. At one point I wanted to start a software company purely to bring people on as apprentices to start the process, but I have no one to pass that company on to so I don't see a point to starting it.
I have been making videos off and on about the highly technical topics we encounter as software engineers but I doubt anyone is ever going to find them useful. It seems each generation has to re-learn the lessons of the previous generation because they are too stupid to read a book.
As far as I am concerned, I really don't see a point to the high-tech industry. Right now I am focused on farming and starting a restaurant. I don't see how high-tech will ever benefit either industry. Someone else may see a use for this idea and run with it, in which case I want no credit for it. You take ownership as if you invented it yourself.
That was the point I was trying to make. Kings do not rule, they serve. If you read the Declaration of Independence, it is made clear that we really don't care what form our government takes. As long as that government protects the God-given rights of the individual, then the people will tolerate it.
The feudal system (even the imaginary feudal system that the marxists conjured up) is very much more just than almost any form of government in existence today. I too would prefer we returned to it. At least the connection between ruler and subject was made clear, and the concept of "absolute" rule is impossible. I would go for a theocracy too, even a "light" theocracy where the church simply states whether a government meets the minimum requirements set forth by God, and sets the laws that govern everything outside of the domain of the nations.
> If you read the Declaration of Independence, it is made clear that we really don't care what form our government takes
Yes, and they were petitioning the king for relief. Everyone always forgets that the long train of abuses were acts of Parliament.