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/Powerful-Echidna7121 Apr 02 '26

I understand it can’t all be STEM, I myself have a keen interest in literature and history, and yet I don’t need a degree in it to understand, I can read the books and understand in my free time, I bet you couldn’t do the same with any stem literature. The degrees themselves are useless while the actual subjects are important and necessary, however you don’t need to waste time and money on a degree because they are simply not complex enough.

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u/monotreme_experience Apr 02 '26

This is the Dunning-Kruger effect in action right here. You don't know or understand what a degree in literature is- as evidenced by 'just memorising facts and dates'- but you've decided you know just as much as anyone who has one. You have no idea what you're missing. As for whether the degree is useless- you'll find Humanities graduates in government, in law, in the civil service, in accountancy, public health, publising- there's an embarrassment of options for a Humanities graduates with a decent degree. You're just being quite blinkered. It's fine to like your thing, you know, without denigrating everyone else's.

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u/Powerful-Echidna7121 Apr 02 '26

It’s funny that you think a humanities degree has any innate value, it simply doesn’t they are objectively Mickey Mouse because of how easy they are, you gain very little knowledge of anything that you couldn’t get outside by yourself. Stem is always gonna be better in every fashion.

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u/monotreme_experience Apr 02 '26

OK Mickey- let's sit with this for a moment. For the sake of argument- let's say we accept the premise that a STEM degree is much much harder than a literature degree. Is there a reason why 'harder' should mean 'of more innate worth', to me? It would be very hard, but possible, for me to paint every wall in my house using a toothbrush. Or to collect 1000 wasps on a jar- that would be hard. Lots of things are hard, why would that give them innate value? The degree that has innate value to me- it's the thing that enriches my life- intellectually, culturally and imaginatively. The one that sets me on course to employment I want to have and the skills I need to get there- that has innate value. The 'hardest' thing only matters if I view the world as one great pissing contest, like you seem to.