The degree thing

This is awful, every time I look at this blog screen, I just want to write a poem or something.  The silly every day poetry thing is getting in me I think.  Must....Purge..... haha.

First thing:  I've decided that most college degrees, are in the end, pure bosh.  They are nothing you couldn't learn on your own, they just provide you with a handsome, very expensive, sheepskin for your wall.  And all the employment options that gives you.  Which is high brow bullshit if you ask me. 

I'm NOT talking about truly specialized things.....or maybe I am.  Can someone learn to be a decent doctor of some kind, through years of practicing, and researching?  yes, actually I bet you could.  Same for lawyering, financing, and the whole lot. 

I think I'm just feeling the frustration of age finally.  I just turned 40, which I know isn't very old, as things go.  But I've got almost 20 years experience in aviation now.  A significant portion of it, in 'unusual' parts of it.  Experimental flight testing, training, creating and maintaining all the documentation that goes along with an organization's maintenance of aircraft and components. 

BUT, when I see an interesting job opening, that I know damn well I could do, and one of the requirements is a bachelor's degree; man does it piss me off.  Really?  There's some requirement of this job that I don't know how to do already?  Or that I couldn't pick up quickly because of my background?

I just don't see it.  The almighty sheepskin is a crutch, for something.  Liability?  An excuse for not hiring someone from within your company? 

Or, here's the paranoia part:  Is it just another way to keep the 'poor, uneducated' masses in their place? 

Now, I don't have a real excuse.  I chose not to go get my bachelors, or higher.  I had the opportunity, and chose to get my technical degree, and get out there and make money.  And it worked, for a while.  I was out there, making money, getting experience, quicker than my college going buddies.  But within ten years or so, the tide changed.  They were out earning me for the most part. 

It's just frustration.  Unless I take the time to get a degree, at this late point in my life, and have the fun fun University of Phoenix stigma (housewives and prison inmates!!);  I'll be relegated to mostly low level positions, regardless of my experience, ideas, or effectiveness. 

That's what's worrying me today. 

How about you?

Tell me why I'm wrong.  :)