If one has to ask the question, then the answer is almost certainly: work for a year or two before going to college. If nothing else, working a dead-end job for a year or two and realizing that it’s a dead-end job will create a lot more incentive to do well in college and to pick a major that has some practical value.
Agreed. You can learn some valuable work/life lessons from even low level minimum wage jobs. Of course a high school graduate will only be able to get entry level or minimum wage. But the experiences may well help them determine their next steps. The next step could be college, or a trade school of some kind.
But the real world experience of actually working, actually being on a work schedule, actually being accountable and actually getting paid, is very valuable in the development of young people.