Ah, this thread has drifted a bit....
No, not everyone should go to college, but I sort of agree that to make it, you need some sort of technical post high school training, unless you have gone to a very good technical high school. Of course, around here, college is considered compulsory. Our state schools are woefully underfunded because most people would rather go to to a 3d rate private school for a lot more $, than say they went to a state school. A few people have just come to the realization that community colleges are actually great places to get an education or training for a career...
I went to a community college and 2 state universities. I am now getting my second grad degree at a smaller private university. I do see a difference in the type of education I am getting, compared to my master's in ed. I got at ASU, but I think it is more a function of the particular school I am going to, which is very holistically oriented. I got a great education at ASU for both my BA and MA.
As for the poor quality of the undergraduates; well, I think there was a lot of that when I went to school (in the 70s), but we saw it in different ways, since there was no technology to distract people. Other things did, like drugs and alcohol.