They leave college with a piece of paper while they can barely do high school math, evidenced by the fact that they signed a loan for 6 figures without actually thinking about it.
I don’t have that piece of paper and while I’ve done OK in tech, there are structural barriers to advancement without a degree.
the majority are simply following what the system dictates. deviating from that system is difficult and not for the faint of heart.
That is false and is at best a flippant assessment. Society places substantial pressure on high schoolers to attend university, especially in the middle class, and the loans were presented to them as an option commonly taken by your peers. At 18-ish, peer pressure can be massive and, tied in with the uncertainty about the near future, any revealed life path can seem perfectly acceptable.
> an entire generation demanded easy degrees
This is also false, an entire generation wanted to move forward with life and college seemed like the correct choice to them (regardless of if it was actually a correct choice). They didn’t demand easy degrees.