I kind of miss the days when you didn't really go to school but you became an apprentice under a master. You were basically an indentured servant, but you were learning a skill. Then eventually you passed that skill on to your own apprentice or more. It would still apply today, they just wouldn't make as much money on it and it wouldn't be a mass thing, the quality would probably be better though.
I think, unfortunately, the invention of the steam engine killed that whole process.
Before the steam engine, people were absolute masters of their craft and people would pay for the varying levels of quality and skill levels of the different tradespeople... but with factories powered by steam engines, suddenly all sorts of stuff could be mass produced and the masters could no longer compete.
But I guess, also, apprentices learnt all about that particular skill, but didn't get a well-rounded education so I imagine changing disciplines wasn't easy.
That is a good point.
And, the production line created narrow skillsets that were designed to do a slice of a job, not the entire piece of work. Efficiencies went up, broad skills went down.
It is a bit like going back even further, where surnames were attached to tradecraft - thatcher, butcher, baker. Families would pass down the inheritance as skill.
For sure!