What college majors are worthy? Or what criteria determines the worthiness of a college major?

[ColdWombat]

Are we sending too many unprepared/underprepared students to college?

No, of course not. As I’ve stated, I judge a major by its academic potential, not its earning potential. Actually, pure sciences don’t really rely on markets. No one, other than the government, would pay for the research to look into the origin of the universe, for example.

Responding to this comment from the original thread…

I think I don’t understand what you mean by “academic potential” and how that is similar or different from “earning potential”. You can get a PhD in just about anything.

@1NJParent

Actually, pure sciences don’t really rely on markets. No one, other than the government, would pay for the research to look into the origin of the universe, for example.

And it turns out the government doesn’t pay to employ many of those biology grads either.

What about history, philosophy, classics? Those are all fields with a long and illustrious legacy. There aren’t great jobs for grads in those specific fields and the government doesn’t really fund those fields at all.