It was a good measure of the “right” kind of person.

Long ago, a college education used to assure that you were white, male, Protestant, at least upper middle class, and at least semi-literate (assuming you managed to at least get Gentleman's C's, so the required "drive" was minimal if you were from the right family). Admission was much more of a sure thing for the offspring of alumni.

And that was what was necessary to join a business at that time: respectability and clubbability.

A minimum admission requirement regarding academic performance was made more prominent as other acceptance criteria were broadened, but most private universities will still give an easy ride to legacies and to the offspring of large donors.

Now it’s just another job requirement and doesn’t indicate anything.

Well, you're generally expected not only to have a degree, but one in a relevant field of study, and to have gotten good grades. And most of the big-name high-tech firms won't generally accept a degree from any but a few globally prominent universities. They go by brand as much as by objective criteria of performance. That's the new clubbability filter. Someone who cut-and-pasted AI slop at Stanford has a much better shot at a job than someone who did real work at Podunk State.

My first job required a bachelor's degree because AND I QUOTE "So we know you can read and write in English"