In view of the deliberate and shameful depreciation of humanities subjects people might find this interesting. https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/publishing/memoirs/humanities-scholars-who-worked-military-intelligence-second-world-war/

I am, it’s fair to say, a little biased. I have a BA in history (mainly early medieval), a MSc in international relations (focused on finance) and In currently working on a MA in creative writing (dissertation of contemporary poetry).

The MSc was (a bit) career focused. The others were / are not. So what was the point of the medieval history or the contemporary poetry? Did they have any vocational value?

It’s a bad question. I believe quite strongly that the principal purpose of degrees (especially when young) is to build personal intellectual capital rather than specifically vocational capital.

We have working lifetimes to build vocational capital (that is the point of work).

But returning to the vocational point, the simple answer is, yes. Humanities (when well taught) teach critical thinking and source analysis. These are absolutely critical vocational skills.

History is about the investigation and communication of worlds in the past based on a rigorous analysis of the evidence. Medieval history is a purist form of history in that for long periods (eg 8th century England) the evidence is patchy and usually contested.

Poetry, is, amazingly, quite similar. The use of very small numbers of words to create worlds (emotional, physical, experiential) in very small spaces.

The idea that this isn’t vocational is for the birds and, in my experience, pretty well understood by people who are good at business etc.

Anyway, this is all you need to know.

"Things fit together. We knew that--it is the principle of magic. Two inconsequential things can combine together to become a consequence. This is true of poems too." (Jack Spicer)