At the same time, though, you have to consider the state of the public education system (which is what the majority of Americans use). In my school district, there is a great deal of emphasis on promoting the failing kids to the next grade, partially because of the concept of "social promotions" (the idea that being held back is a stigma and is damaging to the kid's psyche or something), but also for shee purposes of practicality--if they held back every kid they should, then there would be no space. I'm not saying that a high school degree is completely worthless, but at the same time, there is a much higher degree of accountability in a BA or BS than a High School Diploma. There were people at my high school that graduated with a 0.5 GPA. I really don't think that any College or University would allow that to happen.
At the same time, though, I do agree that just having a BA or a BS doesn't make you any more or less intelligent or worthwhile than another person, nor is it an accurate indicator of your ability to do work. For example, I am a sophmore Anthropology major. It is about the third week of classes. I am already behind about 600-some pages in reading. Am I ever going to do it? Probably not. Do I really need to do it? Honestly, it would probably be a good thing if I did, but at the same time, the lectures are pretty detailed, so I'll probably do pretty well in the class, so therefore there's no real need to do the reading.
Case in point: my girlfriend's father never finished college. He now works for IBM as a computer trouble-shooter of some sort, remotely managing and diagnosing problems with several systems. Now, he did go back and get certified for this, but still, he has a high school degree. Clearly, he has done very well, especially in comparison to most other people I know who do not have a college degree.
I think that from a standpoint of getting a job, a college degree is helpful, but I think people (namely employers) need to start recognizing that it is not 100% essential. There are plenty of smart people who are, for whatever reason, unwilling/unable to get a college degree, but if they are trained properly, can do any job just as well as some guy with a BA or a BS. At the same time, I think that a lot of people these days are more concerned about getting a job *after* college than they are about learning. I personally am of the opinion that, if you decide to go to college, you should just major in whatever interests you most and learn as much as you can about it, and worry about getting a job later.
And for the record, the reason I am behind in my reading is not because it is uninteresting to me, but because I lack the mental discipline required to get it done. Now, for example, I should be reading for class tomorrow, but instead, I'm posting to this forum.