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Yes, I am 100% ok with limiting college to those who can pass X test and I’m fine with a mostly no-frills college experience
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I’m fine with having more no-frills colleges.
I don’t think the euro system pays for room and board. I think the student/family is still on the hook for that.
I would like to see more CCs being allowed to award bachelors degrees for majors that don’t require expensive labs/technology. That would allow many students to get their English, HIstory, Poly Sci, BSN, teaching degrees, etc, there.
But I’m sure if we started giving a test at 14 or even 17 that put a student on a college prep track (or not), we’d soon be hearing screams that too many low income students, URM students weren’t passing the test. We’d also be hearing screams from parents of boys who’d be arguing that boys “take longer to grow up” and are “late bloomers”. And, god knows we’d be hearing from the many who cry that their child is a “poor test taker”.
The American system may be expensive, but I don’t think the meritocracy Euro system would be acceptable here.