Beck, what I typed was the sort of ha-ha-only-serious statement Slashdotters like to mod -1, Flamebait. That said–

I don’t think media studies is useless. I can name a number of professors whose culture/communications classes I give my eyeteeth to attend (Lawrence Lessig, NYU’s Siva Vaidyanathan). That said, look at the number of media studies grads and you’ll see that (like Econ grads in the UK) these aren’t people studying media because they’re deeply interested in the media, but because it’s a subject that’s easy to get credits for.

> What about the history of women, by far a larger population?

Except that women’s studies != history of women. A history department would do pretty well at recording that, as it would be at recording the history of African-Americans, or Tibetans, or Polynesians (perhaps setting up specialisms within itself.) Women’s Studies invites ridicule, IMO, particularly because of the bits it incorporates from postmodern/feminist “theory” (in scare quotes because precious little of this theory has any academic rigor).

> And if you’re looking for usefulness (as defined by you Indians as equal to money making ability)

Yup, no generalizations there. All of us Indians are totally dedicated to maximising value propositions and shareholder value and all that. Bloody miracle that any art gets done in India at all.

(also, Hollywood is supposed to be fine art now?)

Re usefulness: given the number of media studies grads, one would expect the US to have a richer cultural scene (correcting for its larger population) than France. I might be biased, but that hasn’t happened yet. My hypothesis: the typical US media studies is what the Brits lovingly call a wanker. Similar conclusions can be reached for women’s studies. Sure, there’s the odd exception, but I believe it’s a fair statement that a large number of folk in these departments are wasting their time*.

* There is some reason to believe the vast majority of people in high-enrollment subjects in Higher ed. are wasting their time: google for critiques of the massification of higher education. So maybe I’m being unduly harsh on Women’s/Media Studies. At the very least a similar criticism would apply to Econ in the UK, or to Engineering in India.

And if you’re looking for usefulness (as defined by you Indians as equal to money making ability) just ask a person in Hollywood whether they’re hurting for money right now… Then ask an investor.

Beck, you assume that what Wall Street did was useful to begin with…

And:

Prasenjeet, if you still think that courses in Women’s Studies, etc. are useless endeavors you missed the point. Studying history, no matter the history of what, is recognized as essential to our ability to act wisely by many more than just John Adams. A very intelligent and well respected Indian Ph.D. that I happen to know can recite Indian history and tell stories of the migrations of various ethnic and religious groups across India throughout history. The number of people in the population of India is smaller than half the number of people in the population of earth. Women make up half of it. Should we ignore the history of India? Is it useless to understand? What about the history of women, by far a larger population? Only someone foolish would be arrogant enough to believe that he has all the wisdom acquired by millenia worth of people and so has no use for anything they thought it prudent to write down for him to read later.

Also, arts like Adams’ studies of painting and poetry allow us to have the Media Studies disciplines we have today. Without the literary archetypes in Beowulf we could never have science fiction. Without the color symbolism in the Great Gatsby absorbed into the collective consciousness movies would be that much less vibrant. And if you’re looking for usefulness (as defined by you Indians as equal to money making ability) just ask a person in Hollywood whether they’re hurting for money right now… Then ask an investor.

I recently was told that Arts and especially History departments at local colleges in India were being dropped due to poor enrollees. That was a shocker to me. I understand the rush towards computers and s/w craze for instant success (read $) but to actually take that step to remove a branch of study that we Indians ought be proud of was just plain foolish imho.

Though I must say that compared to 10-15 years ago, Indians in India seem more accepting towards non-science professions than they were. It’s a good sign. Just need to make it practical too

I think the critical metric to watch is per capita income. As one rises, so will the other, because there’ll be less anxiety about making a living. And if/when India finally gets a social security net, things can only get better.

Also, it’s amusing that the US+Europe faces the opposite problem: too many people enrolling into Econ. courses (it’s the most popular undergrad major in the UK, for example, can’t find a citation right now) but most don’t actually become economists. Then there’s *snork* subjects like media studies and women’s studies, which are really intellectual masturbatory exercises. Too bad more people there don’t buckle up and do something actually useful.