For most of history, learning a trade meant working alongside someone who already knew it. College as the assumed next step after high school is a much newer, much more specific arrangement.
A number designed to estimate whether you'd repay a loan now quietly decides whether you can rent an apartment, get hired, or pay a lower deposit on your electric bill.
A monthly cash payment to a stranger who owns the place you sleep in feels permanent and obvious. It's actually a fairly recent arrangement, built on a specific shift in who gets to own land.
Eight hours of work, eight of leisure, eight of rest. It sounds like it was carefully designed for human wellbeing. It was actually the result of over a century of fighting, and it had almost nothing to do with what's healthy for you.