I have a rule of thumb as to what is a meaningful degree or not. If we are putting together the crew of a very large one-way star ship, we will of course have scientists and engineers. We will also have doctors, mechanics, cooks, phys ed instructors, farmers and architects and surveyors (for when we arrive at our destination) and we will need accountants to keep track of our stuff and economists to help us set up an economy as well as political scientists and anthropologists to help set up our communities. But we will not need MBAs or lawyers or advertising experts.

Medieval French Literature may seem a pointless thing to have along, but France is a great civilization and do we really want to risk losing anything they might yet have to teach us? Do we need Latin and Greek speakers? Or is their knowledge obsolete too? If English is no longer spoken when we leave, do we want to abandon the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address because only humanities majors can understand them? I've read very good Spanish translations and they don't even come close to the originals. We'll need linguists, not only because we might meet aliens, but because we can't afford to lose even one of our languages. Every single one of them is a man-made universe, a different way of seeing reality. Remember the scene in Rollerball when, because of a computer glitch at the archives, they lose the 13th century? We've lost too much already to be able to afford to deliberately leave anything behind.

Commercial skills are not trivial and useless, but they are perishable, and very ephemeral. Do we need tax lawyers on our ship? Do we want marketing specialists? Financial experts? Hell, you can move to another country and a degree in some of those fields would be useless, because the new country might have totally different tax regulations and business law. Commercial subjects should be taught in commercial schools, as art should be taught in art schools, and music in conservatories. In some countries, until recently, engineering was taught only in polytechnical institutes, it was not considered an academic subject. But we'll need engineers on our ship, and we'll definitely need artists. We were drawing pictures in caves in the ice ages, that MUST be important.

But we will not need specialists in event management, fashion journalism, real estate investment counseling, or sports law (yes, you can get degrees in that nonsense, I've seen them).

The humanities are not trivial. They are the knowledge we need to remain human when we arrive at our destination.

I'll agree with you, higher education is in serious trouble, but its not because people are studying fuzzy humanities disciplines, or because some political ideology has taken over, either leftists in the humanities or rightists in the business administration area. It's in trouble because we have turned an education into a free pass to an office job, a ticket to the middle class for kids who can't diagram a sentence or convert a fraction to a decimal.

I'm glad you picked up on my quote enough to highlight it. I'm fiercely proud of my knowedge of the field I've loved since I was a kid, even though I've never worked as an astronomer. But I've often wondered why an astronomy major should be better qualified to work in city planning than any bright kid without a degree.

You're right. It is a racket. But
it wasn't when I was there, in the so-called swinging sixties and sexy seventies. At least, not for me. It was the most formative and profound experience of my life, more important than my immigrant upbringing, my military experience, my professional life, even my 30 years of marriage to a wonderful woman. It is the single most valuable possession I have.