You seem to have this assumption that the only expression and development of interests comes through taking courses. I have a degree in CS, yet care much more that my partner shares my non-technical interests than my technical ones, cause I can talk shop all day long at work already...
I didn’t actually argue that. The erudition I have always sought in dating or marriage material does not depend on the degree I have, and in fact my own degree is in a field different than the canon of art to which I mentioned above. But sure, having a degree of some sort does greatly boost the chances that one will have had access to an academic library (or awareness of alternatives like LibGen), and potentially made use of it for subjects beyond one’s own degree programme.
The proportion of women with degrees differs from country to country, and often isn’t “the average woman” at all. And sure, having a degree is certainly no guarantee of erudition, but in most countries, women without a degree are even less likely to possess the kind of erudition I was talking about. To the point where a degree does function as a basic prerequisite.
My point is that when degrees are so easy to get that an average person has one then they don't have any meaning as a filter. There are plenty of reasons not to get one that aren't "I don't like learning" so it doesn't work as a filter in the other direction either.
Well, no, they said "No woman would seem dating and marriage material to me if she weren’t similarly erudite and we would have some common ground in that respect" but being erudite in no way requires or is the same as having a degree. That's just one way of many to get exposed to things.
