Useless degrees

this thread actually reminds me of what i see a lot of higher education produce. earnest questioning and analysis, navel gazing, a waste of resources (you should all be doing something productive), poor allocation of funds and not a lot to show for it at the end.

Actually, this is what I'm writing my dissertation on, so I dunno about you guys, but this is actually productive for me.

And it is a question I have asked myself. Despite all of the myriad problems with my educational experience, it has still produced a clear improvement in my awareness and knowledge about my subject. And I have learned skills that I otherwise wouldn't have, met people, made contacts, friends etc. that I possibly wouldn't have if I hadn't moved to London to attend university.

The thing is, that all of these things have happened despite the course rather than because of it. My awareness of issues surrounding education has been heightened because I'm the sort of person who is bugged by things when they're not right. The failings of the course have pushed me to achieve things. So, does this mean that it is better that the course is shit? If the course was perfect, then would it dampen the development of students' metacritical skills (which are very important for a discipline like fine art), because they haven't got clear things to critique within their own institution?