you used to only need a degree to be a doctor, lawyer, or priest. Legally you could be trained on the job for literally any career. Boomers were the last generation to experience this ( They had cheap debt that could pay 4 years of school off in one summer so they took it and got a degree just for a better resume and that normalized the custom which introduced the opening to regulate everything to make you sell your soul to be allowed a job and to pay for your employers training costs)
Listen to all the voices in the old movies that you don't hear anymore, killed before having any kids. Those faces just aren't here anymore. Whites playing for keeps.