student loans to worry about paying off and few choices/opportunities to pick from. I agree with you that today's college graduates need a more specialized degree and advantages that help set them apart to at least get their foot in the door with an employer.

I know there probably isn't any way to gather data on this, but I do wonder how many HS graduates really know what they want to major in or what career they want after college or if they have chosen because a family member is pushing them in a certain direction. My junior year in HS is when I did the college tour and started applying to colleges, so I am assuming that hasn't changed. Likewise, I had classmates that applied to colleges as University Studies or for a particular school/major, so I am assuming that hasn't changed either.

If majority of today's youth are just as clueless as my generation was and maybe even previous generations, then I wonder if they (and society) would benefit from them delaying the start of college by 2 years. I know other countries require their citizens to complete 2 years of service and I think most do it between HS and college. I am not necessarily advocating that the US should implement a conscription requirement or even bring back the Draft. I was thinking a more broad service requirement that could be fulfilled a number of different ways (i.e. military, Peace Corp, some other non-profit, working for the local government, maybe state government, etc). It could give the youth an opportunity to dabble in different things while gaining "Real World" experience that gives them a clear direction for when they are ready for college since today's undergraduate degree is probably comparable to a HS diploma in the 1950s or 1960s. Since just about every youth has an associates/undergraduate degree now, most have to be prepared to go immediately into graduate school to really set themselves apart from the crowd. The country/various communities could benefit from the service requirement. I know it probably won't fly, but I wonder if the going from HS straight into college is antiquated model and should be revised somehow.