Professorial Scapegoats, Or Why Little Jimmy Can't Write a Cover Letter

Having gotten overly involved in a debate at Ask A Manager regarding colleges' and professors' "failure" to prepare students for the corporate world, I'm posting my thoughts here, so I can stop spamming the comment thread there. (It's not just AAM where I've seen these arguments, by the way.  It's just that they happened to hit with particular force while I was reading that post and those comments.)

The gist: recent graduates are poorly equipped to enter today's job market and/or are lacking in specific job-related skills.  The claim: professors are to blame for not teaching them the skills they need to succeed and/or teaching them things that are harmful.  My response is below.