The "humanities" fill US News and World Report's "gallery" of "the 13 most useless majors." English (my long-ago major) comes in at #7, a notch less useless than philosophy (#6), but substantially more worthless than history (#12). I remember having taken a course called "Philosphical Ideas in Literature," a double waste of time and effort. I also took Art History. Loser!
What makes these subjects useless? It's the marketability, stupid. That and the earning power of "recent" and "experienced" graduates who studied them. If a philosophy major were to question the usefulness of these standards, it would only prove that she had wasted her time.
My own view is that college should fit you to be un- or under-employed. Imagine business administration majors reading management books in coffeeshops on their day off from waiting tables. They're what I would call losers, if there were any.
