In which I attempt to solve: education

At one time the point of going to university was simply to get an education. To acquire a broad understanding of history, philosophy, literature; to simply steep yourself in learning for a few years in order to become a well-rounded gentleman.

Because you were a gentleman, if you were at university during this time.

There is a crisis in higher education right now. Specifically with higher education in the arts and humanities. There are subjects that are being dismissed as trivial. It's a waste of time to study french literature; how will it help you find a job? Much better to study something useful. Learn to code, study finance, do business things for business purposes.

It's easy to decry this situation as tragic – especially now, when the world is dominated by tech billionaires and MBAs whose catastrophic lack of any understanding of what it means to be human is causing untold damage and serving as a potent advertisement for a liberal arts education.

Wouldn't it be nice to go back to an age when you studied just to learn? Wouldn't it be nice if the point of higher education was to grow into a wiser, more curious person?

It is unjust that the moment a university education was made available to people who weren't men of the gentry it starting shifting into simply the route to a career. Everyone, regardless of class or financial situation deserves to spend a few years lolling about on the lawn discussing Chaucer!

But if you don't own a vast estate with tenant farmers providing you with an income, you do actually need to find a job, once your degree is in your hand. So you do actually need a qualification that will help you to do that.

There is an obvious problem in how readily the MBA pilled chuds who run the world right now dismiss the arts and humanities as a waste of time. If they continue to be successful in stripping funding from those areas, in persuading the next couple of generations of students to study something more "practical," I think we'll start to see that problem displayed in full force. I think we are underestimating how many important jobs require a solid grounding in the humanities.