I think a lot of it is well roundedness and a good foundation for the later practical applications.

School put me off going to uni. I don't need to spend even more hours learning about the fucking benefits and drawbacks of token ring networks.

Government tripling the cost of uni compared to the year before me was also a lot of it. Didn't learn to drive because insurance alone was £2k which I didn't have. Now you want me to spend £9k a year? Haha, nope.

They tried to make it sound better by saying its like the cost of going to Starbucks every day. That put me off Starbucks too.

Lol as a drop out I thought linked list and binary sort were the apex of programming and useful in all context.

No, but knowing how one works help you get a fuller understanding of data structures. And data structures is definitively something one will use and sometimes create (well, if you're a back-end dev, anyway)

ehh, even people that retain literally nothing can get through college to get a paper

There may be the odd bureaucratic company here and there that can not overlook a missing degree because there is no procedure for it. Generally though, previous employment is proof enough.
Personally, I'd avoid the ones who demand to see one anyway because I wouldn't be a good fit.

logically, but employers are rarely logical. Also the age old problem of literally everyone requiring "experience" so you can't even get that employment history.