Rancid wrote:Theoretically, what about practically? Likely not. When in the history of of man, has engineering or STEMS as a formally taught discipline been worthless or not useful?
I thought it was pretty clear I was talking about situations regarding glutted labor markets.
If everyone has a Bachelor's in a STEM field, then that degree in and of itself won't add up to much when you go job hunting as all other competing candidates will have that same qualification.
Conversely, if there's a sudden demand for underwater basket weavers and it's a field that not very many people have studied, then degrees in underwater basket weaving will be "useful".
But since you went off the deep end and said "history of man"....well, if someone with a, say, computer engineering degree ends up a castaway without any modern accoutrements whatsoever amongst a forager society that doesn't even have a written language....it'd be very hard to put that specific formal education into direct practice.
His primitive hosts' society would be such that several generations of development would first have to be attained before they reach anywhere near what his specialty is. But until then, in such a society, his particular advanced education would actually be largely useless.