Sure, but since real people that are actually hiring are quite Keen to limit uncertsinty, that's not particularly germane to the real context in which colleges or students operate. If it were, non-certifying MOOCs and certifying college courses would have more similar costs.

> Once we accept the lack of certainty around hiring people,

Most hiring parties accept a lot of uncertainty around hiring people, and that is reflected in pay which is discounted for that risk.

Both hiring parties and quality employees (who can thus command higher pay) want to reduce that uncertainty, not increase it.

> and academia will no longer be incentivized to continue gatekeeping via certification and will get back to focusing on education.

Higher education started out much like trade guilds for scholars; there is precious little “education without gatekeeping” for it to return to (and it well predates the industrial age.)

Outside of universities, education without certification never went away. There are plenty of places to get that.