Sorting out College For All
These tables from the Occupational Outlook Handbook (2010-11 Edition) published by the Department of Labor Statistics might help. The book is also available in paperback for $23.00 (free shipping). I really like having a copy floating around my house and think education policy decision-makers should always have one in their possession, too.
The "Occupations with the fastest growth" (Table 1) and the "Occupations with the largest numerical growth" (Table 2) definitely demonstrate that a college degree is not going to be necessary for a huge segment of our future workforce.
I suppose kids could go to college, get their degree, and then end up working as home health aides earning minimum wage as they spend their lives spoon-feeding and changing diapers for aging baby boomers, but that