[AnimalMuppet]

Yes... and no. Yes, what you say is true - that isn't the point of an academic degree.

But no, because the way students (and parents) think about it is "go to college so you can get a good job". And many, many employers require a degree or they won't look at the candidate. In the real world, academia is functioning as a job training program.

Or at least as a gateway to the good jobs. But if it's going to be a gateway, but not do any training... that's pretty inefficient.