Almost all of my friends went to university after they finished high school. Virtually none of them now work in the field they studied. Twelve years after I graduated, out of the twenty-one people who were in my music production class at university, only one now works in the music industry. 

Why do we go to university, if not to gain the skills necessary to work in a particular field? Does becoming an expert in a particular field require a college degree?

In past generations, going to university was a rare thing. You only did it if you either planned to. . .