"Stephen Trapani" wrote
You left out: "Even employers are fooled into thinking we are learning
something useful by requiring us to waste all this time and hiring us
off of test scores that show how good we were at wasting it!"

Not necessarily. If I have an applicant with a "B" average in math thru
trig., chemestry and physics, and a foreign language (whether from a public
or private school or a *recognized* home study program) I can pretty much
depend on his/her having some knowledge of those subjects - enough
confidence that I'd bring them for interviews. OTOH, if a application shows
no math, science or languages in high school and "satisfactory" for grades
in dumbell English, study hall and gym - or worse if it says "home schooled"
with no backup credentials whatsoever I'd prolly keep looking.

Unfortunately, as Larry says, nobody has "shop" classes any more - classes
that teach kids to be apprentice carpenters, electricians or machinists. I
don't think this is as much politically motivated as it is fear of
liability. Many (most?) 14-18 year olds are too immature to trust with a
hammer let alone run machine tools or work with electricity. Remember,
Daniel Boone and Jesse Chisohm were doing their things by age 12 - how many
modern teens would you trust to carry a gun?