You've got it backwards to some extent... You say you don't want education unless it leads directly to something you want, but the reality is that the degree is a key that will open a number of doors to opportunities. Yes, many great careers don't require degrees, but you will find that some paths are simply not available without a degree. There is no better time to get that degree than right after high school, because there will always be an excuse or perfectly valid reason to not get it later. And that means you will see opportunities pass you by.
For some, like urchin apparently, this isn't a big deal. But I have found far more people who wish they had a degree because of the options it would have given them, than people who wished they'd skipped that step and gone straight to whatever it is they ended up doing. A "real" bachelors of science degree (in something reasonably technical, not history of basket weaving or poetry) will conservatively add over $10,000 to your annual salary for the duration of your career. In the military, being an officer instead of enlisted will add anywhere from $5000 to $50,000 per year to your salary, the amount of difference increasing with each promotion. A pilot with 12 years of aviation service pulls down about $70,000 without bonuses. An enlisted flier with the same years of service gets a bit over half of that.
The degree is a key, and it will open doors. If you happen to actually USE what you learned in school in your job, that is just icing on the cake. But it's still a key.
If you don't know what to do or study in school, start out engineering or computers. That way you'll get some math out of the way as a freshman, that you'll need if you go into any technical degree program. You can always switch later, but if you start out sciences/engineering/computers, you won't be playing catch-up with the hard subjects as a sophomore or junior.
Actually Eagl, I'm a perfect example of why you need an education. The key point that I think a lot of folks don't realize is you need the RIGHT education. If you go to college after high school just because it is the next stop in the road of life, and you diddly off and pick a retarded major like history, or music, or drama, or english - and you then proceed to get a dead end job changing tires, or working retail, or working at a gym, or whatever... you would have been better off enlisting for 3 years and growing up.
Serenity, I never was in the service. I wanted to join out of high school, I let my parents talk me out of it. I got a history degree (that was 4.5 years wasted). Out of college, a family friend got me a job at Goodyear as a "third key" (think... assistant assistant manager lol). That lasted a couple months. After that I bounced around between various dead end jobs for 3 years.
I ended up going back to school at 26 - originally the plan was to get a master's degree in education and be a teacher. The plan changed, I ended up getting another undergraduate degree, but I got a math degree. I got my second degree in December of 2006. I interviewed for my current job in January 2007, and started in April 2007. My salary today is ~67k. My salary next year will be ~78k. My life (which was a veritable train wreck) is now on a solid track.
I'm not trying to brag. I'm trying to tell you that education is important, but so is maturity. Going to college "just because" like I did can be a mistake. You WILL need a college degree at some point, there really is no getting around it. You do NOT have to go to college and pick some crap degree that is worthless in the real world just because it means you will have a college degree.
