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Comment by Grae | Hacker News Reader

Undergraduate education is not synonymous with vocational training. There is value in degrees like philosophy and other "questionable" majors not directly related to their utility in the job market.

Don't get me wrong: many undergrads would be better off for paying greater attention to the job market and their coming role in it, but education can also be a step towards less tangible goals or an end in itself.

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> There is value in degrees like philosophy and other "questionable" majors

Yes, there is value in philosophy etc, but it is value for you. It is selfish. In a fair and free market society you need to give in order to receive. Once you render yourself unable to deliver value to others, you shouldn't expect others to deliver value to you.

Right, I wasn't tying it to undergraduate education. There's nothing wrong at all with vocational training, in fact, I'm pro on that. You can pick up 19th century Russian literature later in life (and you should as it's pretty great).

>>There is value in degrees like philosophy and other "questionable" majors not directly related to their utility in the job market.

The problem is that this value is intangible and cannot help with more worldly problems such as paying the bills. Until we have social policies that take care of those worldly problems (such as basic income), people are better off treating undergraduate education as vocational training.

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