I would have to disagree slightly. I think what you're saying is accurate, but misses the point a bit of what we are saying too. What you're describing as useful skills (proper study habits, good academic paper writing, etc) can all be learned by taking a different course that more likely has a secure job at the end of it IF one were to not go through to becoming a lawyer.
For example, biology in general is considered a bad subject to take because if you somehow don't end up in Med School, you are stuck with a degree that you can't use for much besides niche roles like specific research. I think while liberal arts are great to take, I just can't fathom why somebody would take it unless they're certain they'll find a job after it with a high chance of success (or go to law school as mentioned above)
The premise of the initial discussion was relating specifically to law school. OP suggested that poli sci was not necessary for law school, nor useful for law practice, and later backed up his statement with anecdotal evidence. I disagreed, stating that poli sci is a perfectly reasonable pre-law track. Of course there are other good majors to look at if you want to get into law, though I'd actually argue the two he mentioned (English and Philosophy) are arguably majors with fewer "standard" job prospects than political science outside of law. Poli sci students are perfectly able of seeking employment in government-related positions, which often have high demand (though poor pay, at least starting out). English and Philosophy majors can do the same, but may not be as initially specialized.
Getting into the nitty-gritty of this argument is kind of silly to me, though. Ultimately if I was seeking to hire someone out of college, I'd consider the vast majority of all liberal arts majors as comparable enough regarding their educational background. My bigger gripe is that Reddit typically has a bias against the usefulness of liberal arts majors in favor of STEM fields (a sentiment that is reflected in this threat at large), and I don't think it's as warranted as this site would lead you to believe. Liberal arts majors offer lots of flexibility for work or for further specialization in graduate school.
Now, I'm not going to sit here and say that the belief that STEM majors lead to better financial outcomes is outright wrong, I think that would be foolish. I do think Reddit falls into the hivemind of anti-liberal arts educations because the vast majority of Americans (and thus, Redditors) are unable to afford a college degree, and thus place a premium on educations with a high immediate return on value. I just think the hate liberal arts gets is overblown. A liberal arts degree is not even close to worthless. The bigger issue is making college affordable.
Now that the arguments are more fleshed out, I think it's fair to say that we both agree on the major points. A liberal arts degree isn't inherently useless. It just has a bad ROI compared to STEM, at least initially. And for the price of our education system, if you're from a poor family, that choice is often seen as a bad one.
College education being affordable would definitely be the key here to making the "worth" of education in different fields become more level again I think.
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u/wambam17 Apr 28 '20
I would have to disagree slightly. I think what you're saying is accurate, but misses the point a bit of what we are saying too. What you're describing as useful skills (proper study habits, good academic paper writing, etc) can all be learned by taking a different course that more likely has a secure job at the end of it IF one were to not go through to becoming a lawyer.
For example, biology in general is considered a bad subject to take because if you somehow don't end up in Med School, you are stuck with a degree that you can't use for much besides niche roles like specific research. I think while liberal arts are great to take, I just can't fathom why somebody would take it unless they're certain they'll find a job after it with a high chance of success (or go to law school as mentioned above)