I've been thinking about guilds and how they're similar to educational institutions, especially as I was reading this link and pondering how guilds became absorbed into governmental structure. The intent of both is to restrict participation through rules that are designed to perpetuate their power through offering external symbols of achievement and belonging.
In the educational world those symbolic representations are credentials, certificates, degrees. What is the value of being awarded those symbolic representations to an individual, a commerce entity, society? Does the value exceed the cost of obtaining that symbol of achievement?
I doubt that it would be in any educational entity's self interest to symbolically value informal learning because it calls into question the cost of the formal processes and the value offered by completing that process.
For many years I've wondered why many of the areas that require the most credentials and degrees are some of the lowest paying, with M.B.A.s appearing to be a glaring exception to that theory. I suspect M.B.A.s are an exception because it's not valued for evidence of superior knowledge about business (evidenced by the recent meltdown in M.B.A. lead financial institutions), it's closer to belonging to a guild.