The Athens of Plato's time was a society built on slave labor. They were a strictly patriarchal society (women weren't allowed to leave the house much), and to

The Athens of Plato's time was a society built on slave labor. They were a strictly patriarchal society (women weren't allowed to leave the house much), and to be a citizen meant you didn't need to work for a living. In short: a degree and a kind of classism we have difficulty imagining. None of this mitigates the lessons that Plato, Aristotle, Heraclitus, Pythagoras, etc., have left behind for us, and which await us at the local library (or liberal arts college). You're right that access to higher education is not where it should be. This is well understood, protested, discussed, etc. But the decision to pursue more or less lucrative paths is a free decision. You may well be coerced by issues attending economic inequality. You may face great sacrifice in order to devote yourself to something like philosophy[1]. And certainly the decision is inextricable from (let's not forget) your family life (oh, you want kids? you want to live in a real house, not a tenement house? you want healthcare and a minimal retirement fund?). But these are decisions about what kind of life you want to lead, and the examples above are about the comforts you may want in life. It is not a coincidence that philosophy's purview lies in asking the questions that help you understand why you value what you do, and base your decisions accordingly. And it may even turn out that, in the course of better understanding why you have found something meaningful in the past, that you no longer find it quite so meaningful. You may, in fact, have turn of heart, and start a new chapter in your life. It would be great if we had social values that translated into an economy which enabled academic pursuits instead of hampered them. (If you think this is idealism run amok, take a look at Finland[2], with the best primary education system in the world, where getting a degree in education is as competitive and prestigious as becoming a doctor; not coincidentally, those careers garner similar salaries). But we're not there yet. Maybe what's needed are more philosophy majors. [1] http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/gifted-teachers-life-of-the-mind-was-also-life-of-near-destitution/ http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/gifted-teachers-lif... [2] https://www.google.com/#q=finland+education+system https://www.google.com/#q=finland+education+system