Standardized national tests are a good idea.
College is completely overrated and in many careers totally unnecessary.
I often wonder what my degrees have gotten me at times. Even though I attended an aviation related university. The majority of the curriculum had little if any bearing upon what I do today which is fly for a living.
All my pilot training took place outside the college classroom and as far as the FAA is concerned they have never, not once asked to see even so much as my HS diploma, muchless my college transcripts.
But at the time I came along nearly all jobs in my field required a college degree just to apply. And the HR folks didn’t care what the degree was in either, just as long as it was from an accredited university.
Later on in my life I had to obtain my Masters just so I could be promoted to the position of Aviation Department Manager. I returned to my alma mater via online study and yet again, the actual job had nothing to do with my degree. Everything I applied to that job I learned either during my commercial flight training days or from my years of OJT experience.
The degree requirement for many jobs is just that, a requirement that some lutz placed upon the job years ago... I guess to justify his or her degree...
This may be true but when there are thousands of responses for every job opening, justified or not, a college degree keeps one's resume out of the "forget it" pile. The one thing a college degree does show, I suppose, is that someone finished something they started.
How about tech schools?