The OP himself is trying to sway the argument with 'Appeal to Adventure' (not really a defined fallacy but appeal to emotion). For instance the call to take the blue pill is a reference to what the Hero of a very popular movie didn't do. The OP equates post college life with an un-heroic life.
There is a visible disconnect with the views in the arguments. They are more open and accepting at the start and get more emotional at the end. To state an example, the author mentions that 'school is in no way a negative experience...' and later mentions that 'Sure, school might maximize one’s chances of living a stable, moderately successful life with two and a half kids, a modest house, and a job. But is that really what we want? Does our generation want to forego pursuing our passions in order to be part of a shrinking, mundane “middle” class?', which seems to point that schools leave you passionless.
The OP also uses arguments that cannot be proved or argued against. For instance "Not that dropping out of school ensures success, but had Bob or say, Mark Zuckerberg, stayed in school, we could all still be hanging out on Myspace." What this statement assumes, is that (1) School didn't help Mark Zuckerberg, (2) He wouldn't have been able to build FB if he had waited to finish school (3) No one else could have come up with an alternative to MySpace, university student or otherwise. I am not dissecting the argument just for the sake of it, but I am arguing that the OP is selective about his dataset. Yes there are Mark Zuckerbergs, but there are Larry Pages as well.
I think it's an ad hominem attack only when the character assertions bear no relation to the argument at hand. In this case, for him to call the OP young and ignorant is perfectly relevant, the implication being that he only dismisses higher education because he is not experienced enough to realise the value of it.
It's not relevant to the argument if there is only a weak implication that going to University would change the ignorant part, not to mention that he provides no backing to the idea that if you go to college you will "grow up" and become less ignorant. This smacks of a circular argument without actually evidence.
His criticism isn't about the OP's lack of time at University, it's about his lack of life experience. I mean, the guy's a sophomore at college, after all. It's not outrageous to suggest that he's a bit naive and/or idealistic.
He doesn't need to provide a "backing for the idea" - Holloway's point did that adequately. And for me, personally, reading the counterpoint just convinced me of the validity of Holloway's argument further.
There is a visible disconnect with the views in the arguments. They are more open and accepting at the start and get more emotional at the end. To state an example, the author mentions that 'school is in no way a negative experience...' and later mentions that 'Sure, school might maximize one’s chances of living a stable, moderately successful life with two and a half kids, a modest house, and a job. But is that really what we want? Does our generation want to forego pursuing our passions in order to be part of a shrinking, mundane “middle” class?', which seems to point that schools leave you passionless.
The OP also uses arguments that cannot be proved or argued against. For instance "Not that dropping out of school ensures success, but had Bob or say, Mark Zuckerberg, stayed in school, we could all still be hanging out on Myspace." What this statement assumes, is that (1) School didn't help Mark Zuckerberg, (2) He wouldn't have been able to build FB if he had waited to finish school (3) No one else could have come up with an alternative to MySpace, university student or otherwise. I am not dissecting the argument just for the sake of it, but I am arguing that the OP is selective about his dataset. Yes there are Mark Zuckerbergs, but there are Larry Pages as well.