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> only the wealthy and privileged can afford to be less vocational in their thinking about college. Isn't that perfectly reasonable? If you have the means to s

> only the wealthy and privileged can afford to be less vocational in their thinking about college. Isn't that perfectly reasonable? If you have the means to study as a hobby, then you should be able to enjoy that. If you haven't yet got the means for that, then earn it and maybe your children can do an arts degree off the back of your engineer's salary or you can do it yourself when you retire. The whole point of the government subsidizing education is to create useful workers that give more back to society with their useful work. Not to indulge people's pseudo-intellectual pleasures. It's not as if arts degrees make people somehow superior at understanding society and arts and culture. Those are things anybody can pick up even with no formal education. Understanding the scientific method, statistics and critical thinking would go further in making well rounded useful thinkers than knowing what some ancient person's opinion about his local society was or training to become an activist who refuses to allow themselves to think objectively.

totetsu 6y ago
Society is like a big discussion that takes place in many different communities, groups, institutions, some using being specialists, using special language, some having more influence than others. If you can't take part in that discussion, your interests wont be represented. If many of the specialist, influential discussions can only be taken part in by people with wealth, then the interests of people without it will become marginalised. Generally people know what they need for themselves better anyone else. Not being able to voice needs leads to society not working for those people, and barriers to them gaining wealth, and doing work that is useful for themselves and all society. The humanities is not for the pursuit of the life of the mind, it is important for a functioning society. Many topics in maths and engineering are very intuitive to pick without formal education. To understand Humanities requires discussion with others. Writing and getting feed back on a lot of essays, listening to and explaining ideas in seminars, testing out an idea in a lecture. It can take a decade to start to understand someone like Foucault. It's hard to find a community of specialised discussion outside of formal education. Just picking up humanities from a few youtube videos or whatever is what I am convinced has led us to the kind of unobjective activism that is reacted against so much recently.
- Caylio 6y ago
  "Many topics in maths and engineering are very intuitive to pick without formal education." Name me a single university level math topic that backs up this claim.
- Caylio 6y ago
  "Many topics in maths and engineering are very intuitive to pick without formal education." Name one university level math topic to back up this silly claim.
- MaximumYComb 6y ago
  >Many topics in maths and engineering are very intuitive to pick without formal education. To understand Humanities requires discussion with others. This is why years ago I watched the humanities students struggle endlessly with their first year statistics unit. The incredibly simple, first year statistics unit.

totetsu 6y ago

Society is like a big discussion that takes place in many different communities, groups, institutions, some using being specialists, using special language, some having more influence than others. If you can't take part in that discussion, your interests wont be represented. If many of the specialist, influential discussions can only be taken part in by people with wealth, then the interests of people without it will become marginalised. Generally people know what they need for themselves better anyone else. Not being able to voice needs leads to society not working for those people, and barriers to them gaining wealth, and doing work that is useful for themselves and all society. The humanities is not for the pursuit of the life of the mind, it is important for a functioning society. Many topics in maths and engineering are very intuitive to pick without formal education. To understand Humanities requires discussion with others. Writing and getting feed back on a lot of essays, listening to and explaining ideas in seminars, testing out an idea in a lecture. It can take a decade to start to understand someone like Foucault. It's hard to find a community of specialised discussion outside of formal education. Just picking up humanities from a few youtube videos or whatever is what I am convinced has led us to the kind of unobjective activism that is reacted against so much recently.

Caylio 6y ago
"Many topics in maths and engineering are very intuitive to pick without formal education." Name me a single university level math topic that backs up this claim.
Caylio 6y ago
"Many topics in maths and engineering are very intuitive to pick without formal education." Name one university level math topic to back up this silly claim.
MaximumYComb 6y ago
>Many topics in maths and engineering are very intuitive to pick without formal education. To understand Humanities requires discussion with others. This is why years ago I watched the humanities students struggle endlessly with their first year statistics unit. The incredibly simple, first year statistics unit.