Re: Can't hack it as a gym rat anymore....

I agree that making money is an important thing to be able to do, and
not being able to support myself is just about the worst thing I can
imagine. My argument is rather that 1) liberal arts degrees aren't a
one-way ticket to low-paying menial jobs (sounds like we agree there)
and 2) even if they were, that sort of knowledge is still valuable.

As you say, there aren't many "historian" jobs out there, but there are
tons of jobs in education, public policy, local politics, journalism,
foreign service, nonprofits, etc. for which a knowledge of history is
not just a nice thing to have, but essential. The history majors I
went to college with ended up as White House speechwriters, in military
intelligence, as lawyers doing public advocacy work, and in
international relations. They use their knowledge every day. It
wasn't a matter of "study something for four years, then forget it all
and do something else."

But that's a bit of a red herring. Regardless of career, I think the
understanding you attain by studying things like history, literature,
art, music, and philosophy is important and valuable even if you never
make a dime off it. When I think of "stupid crap" I think of lots
of things, but I definitely do not think of George Eliot and Piet
Mondrian.


Note, I'm not reacting just to this discussion, but to several I've
been a party to over the past few months.

.

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