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Just to clarify my position a bit:
I don't think college is bad, and I don't know that I would recommend these activities as an "alternative to college" myself. That's how the author framed it, and I thought it made a good jumping-off point.
I didn't go to college, as noted above. I don't feel like I'm any the worse for it, but then my chosen profession often has as much or more in common with the skilled trades than with your typical 'college' job. I wouldn't want a doctor who didn't have the appropriate education, even if he read all the anatomy textbooks and practiced on mannequins and everything.
The point that I would make is that not everyone who goes to college needs to go, and that we here in North America at least have gotten into the habit of shipping our youth off to college straight out of high school just because it's the thing to do. We end up with thousands of youths who take on tens of thousands of dollars of debt, often with little tangible benefit. That's a bit fucked up.
I'd be all for a mandatory year or two off between high school and college. Give kids a bit of time to experience life, and if they still want to go let them go afterwards.
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I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said
- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame
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