In my defense, I never studied literature. I'm a writer at my core. But yes, knowing how to manipulate data in Excel, write powerful proposals in Word, create riveting presentations in PowerPoint, and programming basic DBs in Access are critical in most industries. However, employers have gone to taking the word of the interviewee without even validating their claims.
For instance, we hired a woman with an MBA. She had all the pedigree, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, etc. She claimed a WPM (word per minute) of 100 on her application. I've personally been clocked (by a computer program) at 81 WPM, and I'm one of those people who hear "Damn, burning up that keyboard, eh?" So wasn't I surprised when she started her first day and was pecking out emails with her index fingers on her keyboard.
When confronted by the boss on this little resume faux pas, she admitted that she was told to put it on there by a recruiter. We all had a good chuckle at her expense. She was laid off shortly thereafter for botching a report to finance; something she should've learned in school.
Moral of the story here: universities can teach book knowledge and rote memorization, but they cannot teach practical skills that are valuable in the workplace. Even the most pedigreed of graduates seldom leave understanding how to do a pivot table in Excel or even modify the margins in a Word document.
Sad.