Wow WIY, you and I are in agreement (a rarity, to be sure, but a welcome one indeed!).
I would add one point. I think that those sitting and learning need to be focusing more on halachah and less on gemarah for its own sake. If a qualified individual sits in kollel for 10 years, and is to be supported by the community (and very generously at that; we ought to respect our scholars – at least the select few that are truly scholars – and we ought to insure that they live a lifestyle that engenders respect and admiration, not derision), I think that he ought to be able to function as a dayan, posek, rov, mechanech, or the like when he is done.
Also, in addition to the bechinas, which I think are important, but don’t really measure quality as much as quantity, I think kollel members should be required to produce scholarly articles on halachik and torah-related topics in journals (english or hebrew) that can be purchased by the public. People ought to be able to see what they are getting for their money! Also, I don’t think it would be a bad idea to require long term learners to produce a sefer or two, much like a doctoral candidate is expected to produce a dissertation. THis way, kollel members will contribute to the larger Torah discourse, and not just keep their hard work, knowledge and scholarship to themselves.
Needless to say, with such requirements, the number of kollel members will drop, and those that there are will be of a very impressive caliber.