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Comment by rebeccaskinner | Hacker News Reader

> This is perhaps a consequence of student debt nightmare from worthless, over priced college degrees. People waiting tables and serving coffee now are "highly educated" with expectations!

I hate this sentiment. Not every degree is going to lead to a high paying career, but knowledge is worth having in it's own right. If people are passionate enough spend four years studying art history or poetry or underwater basket weaving then I'm glad we are sharing and preserving that knowledge in our culture. I don't like tipping culture, and I don't really think the two are related, but if tipping is the only way that we could get a generally well rounded educated population then I suppose I'll prefer tipping.

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This ignores the actual reason most people go to college: They are by and large not doing it to gain knowledge for its own sake, or to become more well rounded people. They are doing it for vocational training and/or to satisfy a credential requirement/expectation from employers.

Yes, there exist (often already very privileged) students who have no career motivation for going to school and are just going for the knowledge and culture, but the vast majority go for career reasons.

>I hate this sentiment. Not every degree is going to lead to a high paying career, but knowledge is worth having in it's own right. If people are passionate enough spend four years studying art history or poetry or underwater basket weaving then I'm glad we are sharing and preserving that knowledge in our culture.

There's probably some non-zero value in learning underwater basket weaving or whatever, but I don't see why it should be publicly funded. I don't see any fundamental difference between someone wasting 6 figures on an useless degree, and someone wasting 6 figures on a useless hobby.

Personally I think having a society that has a mix of educational background is desirable. I don’t really expect a national emergency that can only be averted my mobilizing our collective underwater basket weaving expertise, but I do think in a general sense it’s good for society to hedge its bets and invest some amount in a wide variety of expertise. Career prospects are already a good incentive for people to study in demand fields. Having a few underwater basket weavers is still a gain for everyone in society.

On top of that, in the US a lot of time in an undergraduate program is spent on general education. Someone who’s degree is in underwater basket weaving still has more education in general than a person without a degree, and that’s also good for society.

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