*Might I suggest you get an Humanities degree--Philosophy, History, Anthropology, English Lit; these are all contested schools of thought and so much more humble in their expecttaions than the so-called hard sciences,*

Yup, then float away with the fairies, all the way bankrolled by
the hardworking people of this country. Ain't life grand for some.

Dear Yabby,
you appear to fail to take into account my other criticism. I've already acknowledged that tertiary education has been commodified. This doesn't mean there's nothing to be gained from an education in the Humanities (once the very raison d'etre of the academy), only that human accomplishment is no longer appreciated; it's redundant in fact and rare as hens' teeth in any case.
I agree that public funding of the arts should be withdrawn, but then so should subsidies and public funding of manufacturing and farming and sundry business ventures. Indeed why are so many tax-payers' dollars being squandered on scientific speculation--sorry, "innovation"? One mustn't forget the euphemisms. It's because of course dollar values are projected as by-product. Creative destruction is a wasteful process, but acknowledgement of the waste is evaded and rationalised, cosmetic benefits go unscrutinised, and short-term profit is lapped-up--short-term.
Neither science nor the arts is respectable any more, yet the former is lauded out of all proportion, while the latter is demeaned out of all proportion.
But like I say, philistines--not even hard-working philistines.

*only that human accomplishment is no longer appreciated*

No Squeers, its about priorities. If I want to go to a doctor and
have to choose between one stolen from either South Africa,
Nigeria or Bangaladesh, then clearly we have a problem.

Perhaps universities should start to spend their resources on what
we actually need as a community, rather then on those who want to gaze
at their navels and pretend that its a justified living, out of
touch with the rest of the country.

Thank you Mitchel for the advice, it won't be taken. Self deception is something that brings disaster when practiced by people with real disciplines.

Much of my attitudes come from being at uni in Sydney at the time of the Vietnam moratorium rubbish. From what I saw of the entire arts/humanities communities at that time, I'll take used car salesman's ethics over theirs any time.

I'll have to stop now, & go wash my face I'm afraid, I've got those tickets of yours all over my face, & they blind me, just as they do their owners.

the adamic nature certainly flows through the academic world as well.

Yabby,
while I'm flattered to be confused with that incomparable intellect and font of wisdom--Squeers--I'm but a humble disciple.

"Perhaps universities should start to spend their resources on what
we actually need as a community, rather then on those who want to gaze
at their navels and pretend that its a justified living, out of
touch with the rest of the country".

You seem to imagine Yabby that universities dictate to aspirants what courses they shall enrol in. As I've been saying, universities are fallen institutions, devoted to market demand and the bottom line. If Australia, withal its university places in the modern era, cannot supply sufficient doctors or other professionals, and the trades cannot attract apprentices, this is a symptom of the decadence I mention above and hardly the fault of universities. If Australia is bent on becoming a nation of basket weavers, then it's incumbent upon the tertiary sector to make a buck out of it and design courses in basket construction, history and theory. We import doctors for the same reason that we import fruit-pickers; Australians dislike working harder than they have to and are fond of contemplating their navels. Australians in fact have a proud tradition of only working as hard as they have to--and they don't have to.
In any event, you might be interested to learn that the arts, in its various manifestations, now contributes a sizeable percentage of GDP, as well as sewing creative thinkers among a chronically laconic and intellectually challenged demographic: http://tinyurl.com/6vndw29
You're the one "out of touch with the rest of the country" old chap.