OP, did you need to give references for the job that you have? Do you feel those are useless and a waste of time as well? Do you think that jobs should only be awarded to people based on grades and stats?
Most jobs-and many colleges-want to see more about a person that hard facts. A person might be a brilliant individual but not very good with people, or have issues that would make them less than an ideal choice for a job or specific college. My son is looking for a job right now after seeing his own small business go under. He had an interview yesterday and the company mentioned that they’d called his reference and had heard good things about him. At my job we often get calls for references and I know that in one case, my boss’ glowing report got the person the job.
I wonder if @lookingforward is onto something-that you dislike the practice because of your own suspicion that you’re not liked at your company and would not get good references.