Bad advice. With colleges charging an arm and a leg, and people having to take out loans even to attend a crappy state school, its best to make sure that you can make some spondulicks after you get out.
You make a good point, but I still disagree with you. A kid who finishes a degree in whateverthehellheorshelovestodoandwantstostudyinskool is light years ahead of the kid who doesn't really know himself or what he wants to do, and takes uncle Ed's advice and majors in finance or whatever and then loses his way because he's miserable doing something that's not him.
I know a guy in his 50's who started in what's arguably the best pre-vet program in the country, made good grades, and then changed his major to horticulture after a year. "Because he wanted to." His girlfriend's vindictive Lutheran mother forced her to dump him when she heard about it.
Today, the guy has a master's of public administration degree and a really nice job in the public sector. And he's a more well-rounded person because of the depth of his experience. (I'm not saying the guy's necessarily a friend of mine; I'm saying I know him and his story. Just sayin', just in case he's lurking.)
I also know of a young lady whose parents had planned for her to enter the business world and to someday make it big with a title and a corner office, etc.
She had different plans - she went to a State School in Texas and majored in Theater. Today, she's directing plays on Broadway. I'm not saying this is my cup of tea, but it is hers. She might or might not be there 20 years from now doing the same thing. Maybe she'll someday decide to open a restaurant, a women's salon, or a gun store back home in Texas someday. And she'll succeed at it because she started with success. Doesn't she deserve the opportunity to do what she wants to do?
OTOH, there's no law that says a young person has to go to college to have a good life. Trade and occupational schools are always an option, as is military service. I think the important thing is for a young person to do SOMETHING, and to do it well, instead of just going where the current takes them... like some people I knew back in those days...