Laelia wrote:
What issue? This whole conversation stems from Usd suggesting that universities weren't part of the real world. I've spent longer in university than anyone else here, I think I'm reasonably qualified to discuss the subject.
We don't have "liberal arts colleges" versus "science colleges" in the US. That's not how our system is organized.
The reasons why this is so are uniquely American, and the fact that the system is set up this way is a major driving force in the pervasive defects of the system.
Laelia wrote:
What is intrinsically valuable about what anyone does? People only need food and shelter to survive. Are farming and construction the entirety of the "real world"?
You might have a point if living in caves and eating berries was still a viable option. As it happens, it is not. There are many advanced skills not specifically related to base human needs that are intrinsically valuable. As the saying goes, man does not live by bread alone.
Intrinsic value is value independent of the social favor of any particular system.
That which is more than a status symbol particular to one system but is universally recognized as having utility.
If you have a degree in Marxism from a Soviet university, when you come to America it might as well be toilet paper. A real-world example was this lieutenant in the Haitian army I knew who came to America and served in the US army as an enlisted man but was drummed out when he was told that no one gave a shit he was an officer in the Haitian army, he wasn't going to become an officer in the American army.
But maybe you're a tailor. And your business is making three-piece suits. So then you go to Saudi Arabia and try to hawk your skills. No one cares that you're good at making three-piece suits - but you can definitely leverage your skills to make something else, and the raw materials you have are still valuable.
