I think you're right. And you'll find that these people make good money, regardless of qualification, as long as (and only as long as) they make good momey for the studio. However, don't dismiss their short-lived mediocrity as a total lack of talent. You only have to watch "X-factor" (the initial auditions) to realise how many people are out there who lack even the most basic talent.... If an Arts degree has low income potential, that is no reflection on the value of the degree or the ability and effort required to attain it. They may be pearls; it is just that the world is full of swines.
I'm not going to say you're wrong - I don't take a ruler up to magazine spreads, but I think models can be anybody. The level of post-photographic work done to the models is pretty much common-knowledge to any person who stops to think. I'm sure what you're talking about are live runways. Personally, with the amount of makeup and plastic, they can make anybody look decent enough, and for that matter, the general public will take whatever they give them. Modeling is a horrible profession. Perhaps as scummy as lawyers and insurance brokers. They provide no essential service, other than an overpaid mannequin of excessive wealth.
I wonder if I'm too late to put my 2 cents in. The cynical side of me completely agrees that in essence non-professional degrees, or at least working towards a degree where you're not likely to actually work in that field, is a waste of time. My example is spending almost 5 years completing my undergraduate degree to find myself desperately looking for a job. It must be said though that I was not a hard worker and I only just got by on my language portion. So I decided to go to graduate school. Now I'm a few days away from graduation and pretty much no better off in finding a job as I was 2 years ago. Both of my degrees are in "wishy-washy" humanities; specifically International Relations. When I look at my colleagues and the kinds of jobs they are getting, only a very few are going to be working internationally in their specialties. Most are going to be HR managers or recruiters for companies. That's certainly not the kind of job that I had in mind going into this program. I'm also thoroughly finished in academia. Going for a doctorate would just kill me. Finally though, any degree is only what you make of it. As others have said, it's about how passionate you are for your subject as well as personality and just a bit of luck. I probably won't ever be working specifically in US-Japan relations, but maybe I'll be a manager at a tour company or something that will at least be a bit of fun. I think everyone would be surprised to find out that some really successful people aren't doing what their degree is in.
Your forget that photo-realistic image manipulation is only fifteen years old. And we still struggle to artificially generate a life-like human face. Uncanny Valley is difficult to cross... For now, the industry needs human templates to work from. And they need to meet strict aesthetic criteria. Most young women are pretty because they are fit and healthy and still have that metabolism that purrs like a German car engine, that you only find in youth. But being a model is not about looking pretty; it is about embodying a certain physical ideal. It is not an immoral profession, just a vacuous one.
