I really enjoyed reading your post! I think an ‘academic utopia’ as you alluded towards would be fantastic, however it definitely does come with a host of areas that would need to be addressed. As you put it, one of the greatest obstacle would be that of certification. I have heard stories of individuals who have taken courses online at community colleges that are able to complete a 3 credit hour course in a matter of hours. Using textbooks and academic documents with searchable functions make it easy for students to manipulate their comprehension of the subject matter. Extrapolating this idea really presents some significant issues that could pose a serious threat to this academic utopia.
Overall I found this to be a really interesting post. Thanks!