Oh boy…where do I even begin…
I’ll sum it up succinctly any Liberal Arts major lacking in anything Mathematical, Scientific, Technological, or Engineering wise is a worthless degree. So yeah all Art History, Communications, Theatre, Journalism…ect ect…All worthless
I have not been responding on these forums for awhile, but seeing some of the statements here regarding arts degrees was enough to make me come out of hiding.
austenbooten, I strongly disagree with your views on arts degrees. Calling them “worthless” and “fluffy bunny” degrees is very rude and disrespectful towards those who have pursued that line of education. I’ve noticed this occasionally on other threads as well…it truly amazes me the animosity some people have towards these areas of studies. They paint the incredibly diverse areas in arts, from fine and performing arts to the highly technical (and yes, mathematical) social sciences with the same brush.
First of all, your idea that the arts are worthless was also held by the government of the Soviet Union. While they still had musicians, writers and media, they decided to abolish any arts influence in the education of engineers. They mass-produced engineers using a lobotomized education system which completely ignored, among other things, the humanities, critical thinking and philosophy.
Soviet engineering schools had no elective courses, no courses on the philosophy of knowledge, no courses even on general sciences. The result was that their engineering graduates were very skilled in their specific field, but they were also not able to communicate effectively or think critically. These are skills which are emphasized in arts courses and in an arts degree, and they are critically important to any society or business. However, the Soviet Union’s economic State Planning Committee was made of people who had no art backgrounds whatsoever. Thus they were unable to question and critically examine their own methods. So instead of coming up with creative solutions in a crisis, they instead sought to exact increasingly stringent control on their existing method. This made their economic controls more brittle instead of flexible, and that was one of the contributing factors of the fall of the Soviet Union. I
If you want to explore this further, I highly recommend you watch the TV documentary series “Pandora’s Box” (specifically the first episode, “The Engineers’ Plot”) which covers this subject in detail. It investigates the consequences of political and technocratic rationalism and shows that you cannot have a functional society which systematically removes the arts.
Your denigration of arts degrees is also an attack against the priesthood, as the education of priests is primarily in the area of arts. Are philosophy and theology also worthless in your view? If so, then you view a priest’s education as worthless, including the education of Pope Benedict XVI. And considering your status says you are Catholic, I find this very curious.
Also, what about the University of Oxford? Their curriculum is focused on traditional subjects, primarily humanities and traditional sciences. Is that worthless? Even though, according to the UK’s HESA (Higher Education Statistics Agency), 93% of Oxford graduates are employed 6 months after their graduation? Now before anyone protests, I fully realize that most people do not have an Oxford degree but it shows just how highly valued the arts are at a prestigious institution.
Now, yes, I know normally it does take longer to find meaningful employment. And yes, often arts grads find work in areas that are seemingly unrelated to what they studied. And yes, arts grads do earn less than engineers (especially when they first start out). However, arts emphasize what companies call “soft skills”…which is critical thinking, the ability to question established methods, communication.
Unfortunately it seems my message was too long for a single posting, so I will post the rest of it in a separate message.
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