[glomek]

My guess is that CS degrees are not valued because most of them are not particularly valuable.

The average CS department would flunk out most of their students, whither away, and die if they demanded the level of ability that MIT or Berkeley (for example) demand. It would be better for the industry as a whole if this were to happen, but not for the instructors teaching in those average CS departments.

Top schools can afford to be demanding because they have talented people trying to get in. Top schools can afford to teach theory and start with Scheme, because their students have some trust in them. If Unknown U's CS department started with SICP and Scheme, a bunch of their students would go "This is useless!" and leave, so they use Java.

As it stands, a motivated self learner who buys and reads the textbooks used by top schools is likely to end up knowing far more CS than the average person with a CS degree. Of course, this same motivated self learner, if they got a CS degree, would probably also end up knowing far more CS than the average person with a CS degree. Net result? You need to judge each individual on their own merits, and most CS degrees won't give you any shortcuts.