[sunshinelackof]

Calling a degree useless because its value is not realized by the market today is myopic. If there were an explicit disincentive to study neuroscience, it's very unlikely that you would have textbooks summarizing decades of work in neuroscience.

This sort of thing basically existed in 1800's with surgeons. They weren't valued for their work and had a social stigma placed upon them. It took surgery a century to dig out of that hole, only thanks to the people who were dedicated enough to it.

[outlace]

I disagree strongly. Neuroscience as it is taught at the undergraduate level is just a body of knowledge you are tasked with memorizing. I can’t think of any job that just requires you to spit out answers to multiple choice questions about neuroscience or anything else for that matter. Surgery, however, is a skill that is honed by repetition. You can’t learn surgery from a book.

This is the point I’m making. Skills matter and it may be worth it to pursue a skill-based degree but knowledge is cheap. Why spend $30k/yr getting a degree in neuroscience when you could buy the same textbooks, memorize the same information and yet only spend a few hundred dollars on the books themselves?

I’m not saying neuroscience knowledge isn’t valuable, I’m saying it doesn’t make sense to go get a 4 year degree out of it. The most valuable things I gained out of my college experience were extracurriculars working in a research lab (gained practical research skills), leadership skills from starting and running student organizations, and work skills from a part time job.

And there certainly still would be textbooks even if there were no undergraduate neuroscience major. You could still pursue a graduate degree where you take some classes but then spend most of your time building skills and working toward a real contribution to the field.

[_fq4v]

> It took surgery a century to dig out of that hole, only thanks to the people who were dedicated enough to it.

Surgery wasn't valued because it was mostly a quack science at the time.

[JudgeWapner]

why can't you do anything with a neuroscience degree? Because of a variant of reglatory capture that prohibits you from doing much more than emptying bedpans with the degree. I know there has to be some regulation in medicine, but it's often abused to the point that a Bachelor's degree only gets you to the most basic, monkey-can-do-it jobs.

[chrshawkes]

You make a good point. The US Army treated contract surgeons terribly in the 19th century. Look at the case of Dr. Porter from Custer's Last Stand, he didn't even get an award for his bravery.