In the context of intense competition between countries regarding the economic performance, people created a new definition of “unuseful” academic subjects for any subjects which they think will not contribute any value to the prosperity of the country. However, I think that it is a narrow claim because any knowledge that we learn at schools will play a pivotal role in helping the country earn more money.
First of all, we need the clarify the term “not useful”. In this context, valueless subjects refer to some academic fields such as geology, linguistics. As for geology, people claim that geologists who have learnt skills of studying the structure, surface and origin of the Earth cannot make them financially sufficient. At the same time, being a linguist with knowledge of language’s structure is no where related to the wealth.
Adversely, these skills have a profound impact regarding generating wealth for the nation. Take the skill of studying the structure of the Earth for example, when the government is planning to build a highway, a group of expertises in geological fields will be gather to be conducting measures of the geology of the land. Their responsibility is essential in the whole project due to the assurance of the feasibility of the construction.
Take linguistics for another example, in any countries, languages are defined as the historical legacy of the nation. Therefore, it will be regarded as one of the attracting points for tourism. The faster tourism grows, the more people want to know about a country’s history.
In conclusion, the learning of any subjects should not be limited by the hypothesis of how much money will be earned by learning these.