Lots of threads on this topic end up with the “mind” folks on one side and the “job” folks on the other. We can do better than that.
The “dots” concept is interesting, @droppedit. But I think it takes the “mind” orientation to grasp it. Ha.
One could go to trade or tech school if all they want is certification they can do some “job.” Even engineering/programming. Or accounting, lab tech work, lots of work that doesn’t really need gen eds. Maybe we’ll get to the point where that’s a more common option.
But we sent ours to college to hone their educations, expose and stretch them, hoping to make them better informed, better thinkers, contributors, citizens. Not train for a job. And we weren’t full pay. I bless the FA folks at their school all the time and we each (including my girls) earmark our small donations toward the FA fund.