Interesting. I think there is a misconception among many that arts/science degrees produce thinkers and analysts. I think it's more apt to say that a thinker or analyst will benefit from an arts/science degree by acquiring knowledge as a foundation for their thoughts and analysis, and by giving them some direction for future uses of their thoughts and analysis. I have an arts degree (I started a science degree but found myself squashed, denied the right to think or to question and treated less like an adult than I had been at high school), and it has served me well. Perhaps, though, that's because I had the aptitude and abilities when I went into the degree. I found the content most instructive and it allowed me to rehearse my skills before shooting me out the other end. They've come in handy since, both in my work and in my life - but the degree itself didn't get me a job - another 'vocational' degree did that.

Otokonoko,
I have said so many times before that it is extremely unfair to those professionals who became useful members of our society via academic education to be called Academics.
But then again, why don't they come up with a more apt word, they do tend to invent you words on a daily basis so why not call someone who is not purely an Academic , something else ?
I have mates who fly 747's & A340's etc. & they all say their stints in Uni were hardly relevant in their careers. Just like health professionals, they all agree that those who got their careers via a real life hospital are multiple times more competent than those who went to Kelloggs University.