For many people, the degree itself provides more financial value in the long term than the material the degree teaches.

Yeah but all those wasted years in school, wasted time for professors, wasted energy to keep the the school building warm or cold depending on the season, there must be a more efficient way to do things.. There should be a school bypass mode for the manager types who need the diploma but aren't interested in learning anything

Unfortunately that's not the way human society works.

> There should be a school bypass mode for the manager types

There used to be. These people could start at a company doing unskilled labor and work their way up to management. But that has pretty much stopped happening in the past 40-50 years. See this relevant HN post from yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22231579