[conductrics]

Isn't this kinda like looking back after running a search algorithm and saying "look at all of those branches that were explored that had nothing of value in them, what a useless waste." You have to explore in order to learn. College helps one learn both how your actions affect the external environment but also the internal one - your goals, utility function whatever you want to call it. What is 'needed' will be a function of what you decide will be needed.

[yummyfajitas]

No, because there is no reason to search through all the branches beforehand. A lot of things can be learned later on, as you need them.

Even if there was a need to search through the branches early on, I could reasonably predict that medieval literature was a waste of time. But 9 semesters of humanities were required by my college, so I crammed for exams and forgot about it after the fact.

[conductrics]

I guess it all depends on one's discount rate. Now that I am older I wish I had taken a few more 'waste of time' classes - esp in the arts.