Bookworm, I agree with your post as well.
I am certainly not anti-intellectual and not even anti-college. I’m sorry if I’ve made it sound that way in my posts. I am simply anti doing it because a person is 18, graduated high school and it’s the next thing to do. I have seen so, so many kids do just that. Kids without direction or passion for anything. Now, I don’t see that as much in homeschooling circles. The homeschoolers I know tend to be more thoughtful about this subject. They will consider taking a gap year if that would be a benefit and they look in the box and outside the box for options significantly more than schooled famillies.
No, not everyone was meant to work with their hands and I would never suggest so or suggest that scripture says so. My husband, for example, uses his mind exclusively for his work, well unless you count typing, phone dialing, and golfing as using your hands. 
My kids joke that his job is to talk on the phone and play golf. That isn’t true, of course, but it is what they see him doing when he works from his home office. Now, the flip side is that he can work with his hands, too, fixing or building most anything – a valuable skill for anyone regardless of their career choice.
You’re correct in saying that we are called to be IN and not OF the world. I’m not afraid of training my brain or that of my children do whatever it may be down the road. I don’t find college scary or hard or intimidating, but it is expensive and part of being a good steward is making wise choices. If college is a wise choice for our children, then I will happily open the door and let them walk into that “box”. Our world does desperately need believers in all fields of work.
In sharing a small bit of my story above, I hope I didn’t give the impression that because I became a believer, I chose to give up my dream of being a doctor. I traded my dream for something better for me. I knew that had I pursued and received that degree, I would have felt obligated to work as a doctor given the time and money I would have spent to get it. Prior to knowing Christ, I had no desire to ever marry or have kids. Once I met Him, that changed and I realized that while I could have both dreams, I couldn’t do both well and I didn’t want to. That story may not apply to anyone else at all, but it was the process I went through. Given the current state of medicine in this country, I’m thankful I didn’t go to med. school. Not finishing the nursing degree, yes, that was a mistake on my part, but it wasn’t fatal or eternal. I could always return to school for that if I choose and maybe I will someday after I graduate my four kiddos.
Bottom line…there are many paths to finding success for your future – college, trade school, military, etc. We need to keep spreading the feast before our kids and take seriously our job to prepare our children for whatever they choose so that they might be diligent workers for Christ in any field in the future.
