My problem with your position is that what you are proposing does not require a 4 year degree. I think a 6 month to one year vocational program would be of more advantage to a student than a 4 year degree in what amounts to a vocational education. The problem with this, is that no one respects a vocational education and no one views it as a competent replacement for a 4 year degree (even if the student is better prepared for the job). So it is a catch 22, you are wasting the students time with a 4 year vocational degree, as the stuff they learn in year one is out of date and the perception of anything shorter is that it is a fly by night education. I don't disagree with your premise that students are not being served, but maybe the answer is improving vocational education and the perception there and not in butchering university academia, the latter has been tried and was not very successful.
i agree that what i am proposing does not require a 4-year degree. i don't think that most undergraduates should spend four years in school.
"no one respects a vocational education" is cargo cult thinking. elite universities don't write world-changing software, educated, motivated people do.
i come not to butcher academia. as one of the least reformable institutions in our society, i'm pretty much indifferent to academia.
