THE LONG VIEW

What if the university degree, once the golden ticket to prosperity, was never meant to last? Centuries ago, medieval guilds trained artisans through apprenticeships—rigorous, hands-on, and deeply respected. When industrialization came, nations like Germany preserved this tradition, embedding vocational training into their national identity. But in places like Hong Kong and China, the Confucian ideal of scholarly excellence overshadowed practical mastery, creating a society where reading was revered and labor looked down upon. Now, history is repeating itself—not with a return to guilds, but with a reawakening to their core truth: value lies in what you can do, not what you’ve studied. The irony is thick: while Hong Kong ponders closing universities, Switzerland thrives on a model where teenagers choose between university and precision clockmaking at 15. And while parents fret over their children missing the 'degree boat,' Keung To sails past them—university-less, unstoppable. This isn’t an anomaly. It’s a warning. Every civilization that equated education solely with academic pursuit eventually hit a wall. The wall is here. The question is whether we’ll rebuild the system—or wait for collapse to force the change. —Catherine Ng Wei-Lin