> I've seen jobs require a diploma of science.
> Thing is... those who get the job - and thus
> have the diploma - needed to be taught
> everything about the job because the tasks
> of the job were not taught during the
> diploma. I have seen unqualified people
> doing those same tasks - as a fill-in when
> the diploma holder was unable for a variety
> of reasons.

That's because what is needed for the job can't be taught.

Take my job. I'm a computer geek.

When I was hired in, PCs were just beginning to be used as business tools. So there was no course for me to learn from and I had to know how to teach myself and then teach others. This is not a skill you can train anyone at, but a broad educational background gives you the skills and tools (good old scientific method plus some education courses) to develop new things.

When my company wanted a website, they did so early on. I'd never seen a webiste and the only thing I did on Internet was chat. I'd been employed for 10 years and there was no way my education could have taught me something that didn't exist. However, because I had art courses and some literature courses, I could put together a credible website.

When we needed to ensure our host against hacker attacks, there were no courses in 'dealing with hackers.' Again, I had to use my background to decide where the greatest problems lay and how to get the information to deal with it.

Scientific method.

I have used everything I know in coming up with creative solutions to situations in my job. You could never have trained anyone to do this nor could you have ever figured out the required skill set I need today some 20 years ago when I was hired.

Now -- this MIGHT be true if all you did was type and answer phones or run a sales register or work in a factory or drive a truck (and those are good jobs, by the way.) But for white collar jobs (such as technical jobs), those are actually rather important and will be used in some measure or another at sometime during your career.