re: Utah passes bill to cut "useless" college degrees at state universities.

quote:

---

You want a free education and a job? Go to public school and be trained and pay society back for funding you.

You want a career like teaching or writing or art or lawyering? Go to a private institution that will train you in those things. Sacrifice your own time and money.

---

The vast majority of publuc college degrees are not free.

You suggest people should pay back society for a public school degree but then you list teachers in the list of "should get a private education". Teachers are an example of paying back. They have low comp and if it wasn't for them none of what you consider useful degrees would exist.

You list lawyers in your private only list when outside of a few political and military jobs lawyers are the only other jobs expressly provided for in the Constitution.

BYU football is about to get a lot of recruits.

quote:

---

No one will be able to convince you because you have decided that you will never admit that you are convinced.

---

You can try. What are your arguments?

quote:

---

I appreciate that the cuts are data driven and have nothing to do with objective criteria

---

There are lots more degree programs that need to get cut.

quote:

---

in history or philosophy or gender studies or politics or “general studies” or art.

---

quote:

---

You can try. What are your arguments?

---

I don’t know. How about history, philosophy general studies and art being part of the educational foundation that has built western civilization. Gender studies is just a very specific aspect of sociology and too niche to stand on its own. Politics is a subset of history and useful if that is something that interests you.

But if you are coming from the perspective that the classical education in western civilization is of less value than welding trade school, I will not try to talk you out of it. Not worth my time.

quote:

---

I don’t know. How about history, philosophy general studies and art being part of the educational foundation that has built western civilization. Gender studies is just a very specific aspect of sociology and too niche to stand on its own. Politics is a subset of history and useful if that is something that interests you. But if you are coming from the perspective that the classical education in western civilization is of less value than welding trade school, I will not try to talk you out of it. Not worth my time.

---

Your arguments are all in favor of the degrees existing not an argument as to why the government should fund them

Damn half of that list is middle east studies.

quote:

---

So you are against government providing educational institutions?

---

In general, yes. But I know in general it is a necessary thing we must deal with and so I am in favor of tight restrictions and limited paths.

I am in favor of tax funded government education being restricted to job and career training for trades, manufacturing, construction, and the directly related fields like engineering and technology.

quote:

---

The government funds colleges to create a more educated population. Rising tide lifts all ships.

---

Define education and explain how a government education in social sciences and arts improves society

quote:

---

100% support. Publicly funded schools should teach condensed curriculums focused on trades and streamlined stem classes. If you want to major in anything from social sciences to gender studies or whatever else you can go to a private school. The states shouldn’t be funding those things.

---

Your general sentiment that public universities should only fund productive skillsets that return value to the economy/public isn’t wrong. But your brush is too broad in assuming that only STEM and trade skills have value.

America is primarily an information and financial services based economy. Top banking and technology companies routinely hire high performing young talent with humanities degrees. They would rather you join with elite writing, communication, and logical/critical thinking skills and train you on their systems than have universities try and likely fail to train you on specialized skills while ignoring the soft skills that are more difficult to learn on the job.

AI CEO’s continue to warn that STEM degrees will become more obsolete as AI outperforms humans in tasks like coding and software development. Basically we will need more designers like Steve Jobs who understand human needs, emotions, trends, and history than Steve Wozniak’s who develop the product.