the issue of students who throw a fit about taking class X because they’re going for a degree in Y (I see this a lot with science/engineering majors when having to take classes in the humanities).
Yeah. That’s really an ongoing issue that I’ve seen too. “Why do I have to take English Comp and some other art crap, when I’m studying CS?” Is something that I have heard a lot. And the reason is that context matters and humans are not rational actors so, it’s important to learn about other ideas in order to both be able to effectively apply hard sciences in a world that doesn’t always match up to what’s on paper, understand why ethical standards exist, and know about the things that we humans do without clear material reason.
I blame the neoliberal idea that everything must relate to profit and anything that isn’t directly related to profit is luxury as a cause of this problem. Hard sciences are about understanding the world around and, to some degree inside, us. Arts and humanities are about what gives us joy, purpose, and interesting ways to make the world a weirder place.