A 4-year college degree is almost a standard requirement for a white-collar-type job.
As for computer-based training, Neal Stephenson offered a tantalizing look at where the potential lies with his the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer in "The Diamond Age"
Exactly. Although the nanotech stuff remains distant, a present day Kindle or tablet system could easily incorporate synchronized interaction between children like Nell and actors like Miranda.
If you still need a human teacher, and that teacher has to be paid, what exactly have you gained by interposing the Kindle between the teacher and the student?
Greenspun once theorized that you could pay teachers in low-wage countries to do the tutoring, but I have trouble believing this will work. Communicating over a teleconference link is hard to do, even when there are adult-aged engineering graduates on both ends of the link. Show me the person from a low-wage country whose flawless command of English and uncanny ability to communicate over the phone allows them to effectively teach eight-year-olds from half a world away... and I'll show you someone who won't keep a low-wage job for long, because someone is going to offer them a high-wage job.
I don't think that follows. Nell's Primer was only a prototype. As a practical matter the kind of infrastructure that went into developing it would over time be replaced by something more economically and socially efficient. The story itself suggests that neither Miranda or the Primer's designers anticipated Nell's needs.
If you still need a human teacher, and that teacher has to be paid, what exactly have you gained by interposing the Kindle between the teacher and the student?
It's likely that little is gained in that limited student/teacher/employment context but in my experience[1] I think there are considerable educational opportunities once people step outside that traditional box.