The real problem there is that a lot of people don't actually understand why their degree is valued in the workplace, and a lot of people aim for degrees that aren't actually valued where they want to work.
Yeah, I have a UK friend who had four or five 8 hour finals. Its just excessive.
It's the equivalent of an IQ test, basically. The problem is that the traditional role of a university was for certain subjects where others were through trade schools or apprenticeships, and that's changed.
It's a complete mess. Though secondary school exams would probably hurt me -I really did horribly in math and science. Now, I understand accounting, auditing, and statistics just fine, and history and civics have always been easy subjects. But if my chances of getting into a school to study my field of choice depend as much on unrelated subjects and do badly on because I'm just not good at them...that's just as bad a system because it locks me out of my preferred field anyway. Especially when the alternatives are technical roles where my aptitude isn't the greatest (and despite having a decently high IQ anyway).
Or is it "they look at the whole picture as a tie-breaker, but acing your chosen fields even if you suck at algebra means you have a decent chance at getting into Oxford since you clearly have the aptitude for your preferred field"?
Do you also not want a dime spent on roads you don’t use? I take it you plan on never using Medicaid or anything like a pension then too?
False equivalency is false.
Paying taxes for roads is something that is covered under general welfare/public works, since it has tangible benefits to society. Same with programs like Social or Medicare.
A college degree, however, does not have anything like that. Bear Ribs has a point where the colleges make much of their reputations and alumni connections as an excuse for the cost of their product, but at the end of the day it's no guarantee that it'll land you a job in your chosen field. For some people it isn't a big deal, but for others it is a huge deal breaker.
I don't think we are at the level where fraud charges should be leveled, but academia has degenerated into a giant mess. Primary and secondary education have basically pawned their responsibilities off to colleges, and it has resulted in a giant disaster.