Quite probably, yes, and to the extent that we can identify talent and develop it, this needs to be done before the child even reaches schooling age. Children that are not stimulated between birth and age seven develop brain damage, and then it is too late to try turn them into physicists.
Supply and demand. These degrees may have intrinsic value, but are devalued because, IMHO, many see them as an easy shot to having a qualification. Any qualification. I think it begs more the question: Are these degrees too easy to obtain? Presenting themselves as targets for exploitation?
Possibly. I have never studied B.A. so I can’t really say whether they actually are easier, but that was definitely my impression when I studied: I was always thoroughly envious of my friends who studied B.A. degrees, and spent their days lazing around in the coffee bar talking philosophy, and then sailed through their exams, while I had to work my head off. And I studied life sciences, which is child’s play compared to physics and math.
Perhaps the point of a B.A. degree should be to turn the student into a genuine critical thinker, on the same level as any science graduate, and to make sure they have to demonstrate a solid work ethic. Bring back Latin and Greek, I say. 
The funny thing is, all my friends who did B.A. are now earning orders of magnitude more than I do. But then, they all ended up going into computer science in the late 1990s, when companies would hire anyone who knew how to switch on a computer. In the meantime, I went into the arts. Go figure.
