A new report, breathlessly covered by the usual suspects, informs us that university degrees in engineering and finance lead to the highest lifetime earnings. What a shock. What a revelation.
Next, they will tell us that water is wet and that the sun rises in the east. The real story here, the one that polite society refuses to confront, is the systematic devaluation of intellectual pursuits in favour of vocational training. We are witnessing the triumph of the utilitarian barbarians, those who see education only as a means to an end, a credential to be cashed in for a slightly larger pile of gold.
This is not education. This is apprenticeship. The Victorian factory owner would be proud.
But let us not pretend that this is about 'informed choice'. This is about the death of the liberal ideal. We are training a generation of well-paid technicians, not thinkers.
And we wonder why our public discourse has become so impoverished. The fall of Rome, it seems, was preceded by a similar shift: from philosophy to plumbing. But at least the Romans had their baths.
