Marcy, I pretty much agree with what you've said (especially the part about college not being for everyone),but I think the student - not someone else - should be the one to decide that. But, I'd add a couple of thoughts. Not all kids can or do learn to the best of their ability. There are kids from disadvantage situations of all sorts who have every bit as much, sometimes more, ability as those from better situations. They want to learn but can't, because if they're worried about other stuff going on in their life; or if they're dealing with, say, parents who make their overall life stressful; sometimes they can't learn one thing or another at one time or another. As a result, their grades suffer. A kid may be able to pick up some things in school but not be able to concentrate on other types of information. (Elevated cortisol levels and other stress-related goings-on actually affect a person's ability to concentrate). It's not just concentrating, though. Kids from severely disadvantaged homes have all kinds of things they deal with. So do kids from neighborhoods that aren't particularly conducive to making a kid feel safe. When kids haven't eaten, or are worried about whether they'll be enough to eat at home; learning is hurt.
The kid who has been hurt by a parents' divorce when, maybe, the less-than-skilled/close parent gets custody may not be worried about money-related stuff, but may be living in grief at being separated from the parent with whom he was closest. Serious grief can take years for someone to get over, and a few years of secondary-school in grief will take its toll. I've known more than one kid who comes from a bad situation and who is every bit as smart as other more advantage kids I've known. The difference has been either that the kid from the disadvantaged situation displayed almost identical ability but not identical academic accomplishment.
Then there are kids like on my sons (the one who is adopted), who tested years ahead in ability as a young child; but who was "oddly tense" in school (and to the point where he had information in his head but didn't demonstrate that in his grades). He was adopted from infancy and had every advantage (some additional ones in some ways) as the two children I had myself (who stayed well ahead of peers in school and did go to college).
Throughout his school years my eldest son taught himself all kinds of things and improved his own reading skills on his own, at home. As soon as he'd hit school he'd tense up. I've since learned that babies who aren't made to feel secure in their earliest months may end up having their stress-response system "wired" to be over-sensitive. My son was an infant when I got him, but he'd gotten off to a rough start and spent some time in a hospital. One might ask why college would have been any different from earlier school years. The answer is this was a problem in his earliest school years, his early secondary years were then affected by it; but by the time he was in his late teens his confidence had grown with him. My bright boy who tested like a 7 year old when he was 4 was told in third grade that he should "plan to work with his hands". He was in second grade when one teacher made a remark about how if one or another thing happened in his program, "once and for all he'd see success in his life". This little boy had all kinds of success in his life (and even with grades on non-reading-related subjects). He just didn't have success in reading-related things). As I said, he'd end up teaching himself to read (and read physics books and medical text books) by the time he was in his late teens. It was too late for him, though, as far as college went.
The fact is by the time my son was in high school he had lost enough ground grades-wise that - really - he had some catching up to do. It would be unrealistic to think, after all that had gone with him, that he could get into a 4-year school. The POINT is, though (and separate from that fact), that it was the school that decided he didn't have any ability, that directed its efforts at him based on that, and that eventually actually created a self-fulfilling prophecy. (One teacher actually told me he'd be illiterate.)
Some kids are fortunate enough to have mothers who'll keep trying to make up for what can go on in schools (and it wasn't the school's fault my son was more nervous than most kids; but it was their fault they interpreted his concentration problems as lack of ability). Some kids don't have that kind of mother/parents. Some have only themselves and outside world (school) when it comes to figuring out if they have potential to get a degree or more. The kid who doesn't have support and encouragement from either home or school is completely and utterly alone as he grows up, makes his way to whatever sense of self-esteem he has, and tries to learn in a world that doesn't even seem to know he exists.
Yes, the world is full of people who ended up with thousands of dollars in student loans and no degree; but I think the loans issue is a whole separate problem, and not reason for schools to tell kids they shouldn't even think about trying to get a 4-year degree.
I had my son tested more than once (and outside the school). They saw the results in black-and-white. Besides, his father and I and others could see his abilities at home and elsewhere. The school not only accused me of being "un-objective", but they noted, "Sure. You can pay anyone to test him and give you the results you want." (!!!) (As if a caring, normal, mother would not want accurate test results for her child!!) No, they had it in their heads that "grades equal ability/end of story" and they weren't about to consider anything else.
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Hey - I've been on HubPages for quite awhile now. I'm pretty used to reading through a whole lot of typos - and worse. 
(but I've know my share of people who live in/come from "plastic spoons" land too. 
