An arts degree isn’t a waste of time. But neither is an apprenticeship

A friend and I joke that there are two types of jobs: fun ones, and school fees ones. We (penurious journalists) say this to our friends (pecunious lawyers, bankers, consultants), and find immense comfort in it.

Perhaps I should have sacked off my History of Art degree, and done something vocational – ergo ‘worthwhile’ as Katie Hopkins will no doubt argue at the Spectator’s debate on Tuesday, ‘An arts degree is a waste of time and money’. I’d be raking it in by now. But then I apply the intellectual faculties developed while studying my degree, and realise that this is, of course, poppycock. After all, most of my friends who are now raking it in as lawyers, bankers and consultants didn’t study these subjects at university. They studied History, Philosophy, Classics. They’ve done well because of their liberal arts degrees, not in spite of them.