You are right about our dumbed down education and the majority in college as trade schools at best (though probably as often as four to six year parties paid by others).
But the low level of literacy of most of those students is shocking. It is not just humanities courses that have been grievously watered down. Because of their pathetically low levels of reading, studying and comprehension, students learn very little across the board.
Many are functioning around what you might have been familiar with at the 5th or 6th-grade level—and college courses have been modified to accommodate that.
I know many people who had successful careers without college. For example, several people in my family had lifelong careers in the computer field, after they learned to code in trade schools, and their knowledge and experience is still in demand today.
But, nowadays, young Americans are facing a bleak job market. Too many jobs have gone overseas, and too many positions here are filled with foreign workers. So, they all go to college with the hope of finding higher paying work.
One of the main reasons I voted for Trump was for more jobs to come back for U.S. citizens.