BTW if you're going to take semi-lame jobs, you only have to get hired a few times in your life. Optimizing the job search part isn't a great use of time -- even if no college doubles your lifetime job search time, going to college would still be a loss in that respect.
Some people are incredibly driven towards a particular set of goals, but the majority of people just sorta drift through life figuring things out as they go.
And college is extraordinarily boring if you aren't already strongly interested in what you're studying. To get a good value out of college at minimum you need some initiative, and some understanding of what you want to get out of it. You need goals or you will just drift through completely pointlessly -- as many people do.
Of course one can try a variety of things at college. But one can do that outside of college too. Shrug.
I'd agree that if a kid leaves school and doesn't know what he wants to do then going to university may not be the best option at all. Taking a few years off to do something else is a great idea and shouldn't be stigmatized as much as it is.
Heck, if you really want to shake up the education industry then perhaps it should be compulsory: have a university that won't let you in until you demonstrate that you've spent eighteen months in the workforce doing something impressive.
Because "big companies with dumb management" hire a lot of people and pay them well?
Most people aren't fortunate enough to have their dream job quite yet and their number one priority for work is just getting the bills paid.