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i may be adding nothing new to this discussion . . . but too many people equate college with "career prospects." that's why you get such an inordinate number of people coming out with undergrad business degrees -- people think that's the only degree that's going to get them any money, never suspecting that if money is their only motivation for attending college they're in the wrong place to begin with. the point of the matter is, college is not the place to learn marketable skills -- it is a place to get a firm grasp on the ideas and theories that have shaped mankind since the beginning of time, and possibly find yourself in the process . . . not to mention that the analytical and critical skills they teach you are useful regardless of your career choice.
case in point: i'm majoring in math and philosophy. now i'm planning to go to law school so i have no real worries about a job, but i damn well know that if i didn't pursue further education i wouldn't be in a terribly advantageous position in the job market. i mean, maybe i could be a systems analyst or actuary or high school teacher (though that requires training in education), or maybe i could go on to math/philosophy grad school and be a professor, but otherwise i'd be screwed.
one note though: my experience in college has been quite different from that of atari 2600 -- i find myself quite challenged by the work, and i consider myself fairly intelligent. i do well, but it's not without effort. then again, i do go to william and mary, which is considered to be an academically "prestigious" school (whatever that means).
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