I'm going to university, but I've got friends who aren't who say they feel like this and get looked down on, but I agree with you, it's wrong that people seem to think university is the only option these days.
In my school the ones who had decided they weren't going to university kind of got pushed to the side, and the focus did seem to be heavier on those who were going uni. One girl had a full time job to go into after a-levels and she said that she was constantly being questioned on why she wasn't doing a degree. I know plenty of people that have good jobs without getting a degree, my brother is 22 and earns about £24k a year without going to uni while his girlfriend has just come out of her degree and has got her first job that's quite a bit lower in pay. And a guy a few years above me had a deposit on a house down with his girlfriend while his friends were graduating uni.
A degree is not essential to become successful in general (unless you're going for a specific career) but people seem to think it is.