I'm a firm believer in the importance of education. I've seen too many uneducated people failing in life or having to settle for really low-paying jobs because they got into drugs or were just lazy. A college education in most cases is NOT a waste of money.
I am from a generation in which that was true. However, the education market has become very different and is also very varied across different countries. Nowadays, there are many countries in which the student comes out of College with a debt that will hinder his or her ability to have a decent life or form a family, and thus, in the name of a good high-paying job they become the slaves of a bank.
This is no different from the Real State market, in which you can buy the house of your dreams and live inside the nightmare of your mortgage, again in the name of a high living standard, plus contributing to driving up the cost of housing by spending every last dime that you earn to compete with others in a race to the limit of each other's credit that will hunt you for the rest of your lives.
Typically, education can be on of the main factors in social mobility and there should be a range of possible education alternatives from the very practical to the more theoretical. The OP is demanding a practical approach, and that is a respectable demand. On the other hand, he is probably demanding it precisely from the institutions that are less able to abide.