College/University side effect (spoiled grads!)

Not just the fresh graduates, I notice this attitude among some lecturers, professors as well. So they got a piece of paper suggesting that they can read, write (but not necessarily well), and be told what to do, all of sudden the real world has become menial. Of course they hate the question "If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?"

This story is from a friend, let's call her Mandy (keeping her anonymous), whose husband Pete runs a construction company. Mandy mentioned that her husband just hired someone who is a fresh graduate from University of Auckland in electrical engineering last week. So on the first day of work started out like this...

Pete, "Alright why don't ya dig a trench along the wall and lay the (electric) cables in there."
Uni Grad, "Oh, I don't do that..."

Long story short, reality struck, Pete was on the verge of firing him, the kid ended up digging.
What happened to the days of apprenticeships where people actually spent all their time learning RELEVANT stuff around their trade? It's ridiculous how much time and energy I must spend on practically useless stuff for the sake of a university degree.