The whole "study what you love" thing is stupid and unrealistic

But taxpayers are paying for students to study a degree which 1) is useless in the job world (regardless of interesting or not) 2) will never be paid back because you won't earn 21K+ working in a supermarket or the likes. I'm pretty sure I'd like to see my tax money fuelled into schools, hospitals etc and not going to someone who has an interest in something that they will never use

A lot of people don't necessarily plan to get a job in their subject. A lot of history students for example won't become a historian, they simply want a degree, because having one is helpful not just in getting any job but also climbing the career ladder. If they have a passion for a subject who are you to stop them paying 9k a year just because at the end of it they might not get a job in that field. So? A degree is a degree.

Ok but its fair to say even from looking at this forum that there are a fair number of graduates without jobs or in jobs that they could have got without their degree (and who are obviously unhappy about this situation). Is it fair that they were advised so strongly to make their enjoyment the number 1 priority of their degree choice?

The whole study for 3+ years in a subject you're not interested in to have a career that you haven't worked in before and then be forced to work in that career (because your degree isn't suited for other jobs and which you lack experience) for the next 50-60 years is stupid.

In short: If you know you want a career in something: Do the relevant degree. If you fancy a decent well paid, interesting job anywhere, any degree is fine.

But as the above poster said, taxpayers are having to pay for this stuff. So I wouldn't really consider that a valid reason for going to university unless there's some serious return at the end of it. Not to mention, this is exactly what leads to the whole "college is useless" thinking that is so prevalent right now

Ok but its fair to say even from looking at this forum that there are a fair number of graduates without jobs or in jobs that they could have got without their degree (and who are obviously unhappy about this situation). Is it fair that they were advised so strongly to make their enjoyment the number 1 priority of their degree choice?

When it comes to job interviews, with hundreds of people applying for jobs, the ones with degrees go straight to the top of the list. A degree opens doors for you, after that it's all down to the applicant. Even if you have a first from Oxford, if you come across badly in the interview you won't be getting that job.

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Whenever anyone asks for advice on what degree to choose, whether online or from careers departments etc, the typical advice given now is "study the subject you find interesting" as if that's the only important thing.

Now whilst it's true that studying something you actively dislike would be a bad move, I think this whole line of thinking (which seems to be quite recent) is giving people seriously unrealistic expectations of university and the benefits that come from it, and to be honest, is massively misleading students

Firstly, university exists to increase your employment prospects, I don't know why so many people dispute that. I find many subjects interesting, and love reading about them, watching debates about them, etc. But I'm not going to dish out £9000 a year plus living costs to study something "cause its interesting" when there is a massive amount of information you can learn by yourself, through the internet, books etc. The reason people go to university is to be able to "officially" say that they have studied a certain subject, ie. get a recognised degree, and the only possible motive for that would be to improve their position in the eyes of an employer, not to "learn interesting things".

Secondly, a lot of people who decide to just "study what they like" and subsequently choose degrees with little employment prospects eventually find that the job they end up in (if they even get a job) won't have anything to do with their degree anyway. So many people who studied easy, soft subjects at university and now are working in bars or retail or something or perhaps can't even find work at all. So it's not like this "subject they love" is even a part of their career

Finally, I think its fair to say that most average students don't really have huge amounts of passion for a particular subject. Every student hates exams, dislikes doing long sessions of work and would probably rather be doing 100 things over sitting at a desk revising or writing essays. So with all this in mind, would it not make so much more sense to advise prospective university students to make employment prospects the number 1 priority when it comes to choosing a degree?

The reason people go to university is to be able to "officially" say that they have studied a certain subject, ie. get a recognised degree, and the only possible motive for that would be to improve their position in the eyes of an employer, not to "learn interesting things".

...Every student hates exams, dislikes doing long sessions of work and would probably rather be doing 100 things over sitting at a desk revising or writing essays.

The humanities subsidise expensive engineering/scientific equipment

How?