"waves of technological innovation" have gotten faster over time, "students might now find themselves learning skills in college that are obsolete by the time they graduate"

no, Java development was not useful to anyone’s daily life.

You've never worked with the US Federal Government. For every software problem the Government has, there is a Java application written to make your life a living hell trying to solve that problem. It's also even odds on said application requiring a version of Java which is about a decade old and it just mysteriously breaks with anything newer.