Originally Posted by Val
Honestly, I even see some of these ideas sneaking in here: Humanities degrees like English or history are relatively unimportant because jobs in those fields aren't as plentiful as jobs in engineering or science. I don't use at work, and therefore it seems less important to study it.. This allows us as a society to ignore critically important ideas that help us make informed decisions, and we do this at our own risk.

Things that are interesting to study/think about/fun (humanities) don't pay and since they don't pay are provided a lower value, while things that are technical/dry/boring/make you want to gnaw your arm off (engineering) create money so they are provided a higher value.