I never heard that from teachers, school counselors, or anybody in the educational system. In fact I heard the opposite: basically "go to college for something (anything) or you'll flip burgers for a living."

I also never heard that, not once.

The entirety of the pro-education message I received all through my youth and schooling was, "get a degree, it doesn't matter what in, and you'll get a white-collar office job."

That's it.

My parents weren't of the socio-economic class to give me any more detailed information, either. They didn't know better, no one else said better, and I know my experience is common among my peers.

I heard it pretty constantly, over the whole college experience actually. It just seems irresponsible not too.

No. Never. Graduated high school in '88. All I heard from infancy was the 'Education!' chant. It was understood that 'Education!' was the answer and the rest would fall into place. Every degree is equally valid and damn anyone that dares claim otherwise.

No thought given to the fact that a large fraction of people aren't really capable of intellectually challenging tasks and professional class behavior, and I mean from the womb.

Just 'Education! Education!'