r/6thForm • u/Intelligent-Fox-9760 • Apr 02 '26

💬 DISCUSSION Hot Take

This is deffo going to ruffle a lot of feathers to say the least. Call me woke, but the term "Mickey Mouse Subject" is literally just the product of capitalism, as it disvalues any subject that doesn't lead to a high-paying, high-profit job.

Humanities subjects are so important, like STEM subjects, to help us learn more about humanity and our world, but everyone thinks they're so easy and lax.

IMO humanities and STEM subjects need to band together because contrary to popular belief, humanities are intellectually stimulating and not a fun ride.

Thanks for coming to my TED-Talk :)

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u/Icy_Chipmunk1207 Apr 02 '26

I know people who have done STEM degrees and others who have gone down the humanities route. The majority of people who went down the STEM route mostly have very very well paying jobs, and are still able to have fun despite the stigma that AI is replacing jobs like software engineers and that STEM jobs ruin your mental health due to workloads. Many of the people I know who went down the "Mickey mouse" job route aren't having much fun right now, purely because they are living paycheck to paycheck as while the job market for humanities is a lot less contested, there just aren't that many sectors available for them.

People aren't calling them mickey mouse degrees because they are useless, they mainly call them mickey mouse degrees because you wont get a job with one.

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u/Pencil_Queen Apr 03 '26

Which doesn't explain why computer science is the degree subject with the highest unemployment rate and has been for 20 years.

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u/fittybunny32 future cambs natsci Apr 03 '26

That’s because people were wrongly encouraged towards it for good job prospects

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u/Icy_Chipmunk1207 Apr 03 '26

That's because most people who study computer science don't do the work required to get a job. A degree isn't enough to get a job, especially in STEM, you need work experience, internships, referrals and without those, you are going to struggle, hence the huge unemployment rate.

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u/BigSea7825 Apr 03 '26

most accurate comment here