&gt; <i>If the talents of smart people are consistently underutilised, that&#x27;s a social problem and not just a series of unrelated individual failures.</i><p>I agree, but I think the social failure is that we tell people to &quot;do what they love&quot; and &quot;follow their dreams&quot; instead of &quot;do something important&quot; or &quot;do something where you can make a difference&quot;.<p>The things that, say, English majors do are probably as objectively important as the things I do at work, but the field is overcrowded to the point that the value added by each additional entrant to the field is significantly reduced. So it&#x27;s hard to find work that pays well for English majors (at least if they stay in their field).<p>Another thing is that &quot;do something you love&quot; misses is that you should find a <i>career</i> that you love. If you love your college experience but hate the jobs available to you afterward, that degree may not be a net positive.