Joseph, just for starters, based on your other thread on secular studies, note that Reb Moshe discouraged college EVEN FOR PARNASA. Yes, in his essay Atzas Reshoim his fundamental thesis is that it is possible to find a fine parnasa which doesn’t require college. He discourages medicine, as well.
Based on this, the following individuals were all modern orthodox:
The Rambam, The Ramban, Reb Saadia Gaon (all studied philosophy and/or medicine),
Rav Hutner, the Lubavitcher Rebbe and Rebbetzin David (Rav Hutner’s daughter, the head of Bais Yaakov Yerushalayim). All went to secular colleges.
Rabbi J.D. Bleich.
Rabbi Avigdor Miller is extreme modern orthodox. Not only did he go to college, he quotes the New Testament, the Koran and scientific papers on evolution, all of which contain apikursis.
There is not a single chareidi accountant, lawyer, doctor or engineer in the entire world since they all went to college or higher educational institutions. (I believe these professions all require a degree.) Note that if you see a doctor or lawyer or accountant who claims to be chareidi and wears a hat, that is only a disguise. By definition, he is modern orthodox, since Reb Moshe would not approve of his going to college. All of the above are members of the modern orthodox school of thought of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik. Reb Moshe makes no chiluk about Touro or YU or secular colleges. He says you will not become a gadol if you go to college, period.
But Joseph, in truth, when reading Reb Moshe, one has to carefully separate the mussar from the halacha. In mussar, Reb Moshe will schrei eish lehava against college. But if you look in the 8th chelek of Igros Moshe, there is a series of teshuvos about college and med school where Reb Moshe says that in truth, according to halacha, even if one is very wealthy, one is allowed to spend all of his time working (except for a short seder at night and in morning) to get even wealthier, and that there is no issur of bitul Torah for parnasa in whatever field he enjoys. I believe he also says that college should be decided on a case by case basis.
So Joseph and Kilobear, if you really believe that the entire frum world can function with only a 7th grade education, you are free to educate your children that way. Most of us know that in these difficult times, the key to being able to survive and pay tuitions and mortgages lies in getting the best possible education.
One final thought. Aside from parnasa, there is probably an inyan of not being an ignoramus about the world around us. My kids went to the mint on Chol Hamoed, and when they came back, they wanted to know why we can’t solve our problems by printing as much money as the country needs. We got involved in a whole discussion (not my field, so I couldn’t give completely precise answers) about inflation, the gold standard of the past, the Weimar republic where a cart full of money was needed to buy a loaf of bread, trade deficits, exchange rates, trading of dollars for Euros or Shekel, etc.
Now suppose a Rabbi would be interviewing for a job in a shul. Somebody asked him a question in Choshen Mishpat, it became apparent he never heard of the mint, did not know what inflation was, did not hear of the stock market, etc. Would he garner the respect of the shul? Even though he doesn’t need secular knowledge for his profession, do you think a shul would respect him or listen to him if he was totally ignorant about the world around him? There is much to be said for secular studies.