I think the reason for that, is because our society has decided that everybody ought to go to college, as opposed to encouraging people to learn a trade. We're a "service economy" now .... who would want to learn a dirty old trade?
That sort of thinking is a luxury -- it sprouted up at the peak of American power and wealth, and the idea has increasingly taken hold as our manufacturing base has diminished.
Short of a crash -- which I think is coming -- I don't think there's any way we'll return to a cultural mindset that actually values tradecraft.
I am afraid you are correct. Somehow “doing” things and building things has become second rate. I see kids going to college who shouldn’t and getting degrees that don’t qualify them for much if anything. Poor things don’t even understand why their “skills” are so useless.
The last guy I can remember who was a true journeyman was a millwright working for the old Allis Chalmers turbine equipment company.
The latino sweeping chips and feeding parts into the 5 axis cnc machine hasn’t got a clue what he is actually doing.