The point of a liberal education is to help the student understand the world around them. Somewhere along the way, many colleges realized it was lucrative to convince people that the point of a liberal education is to engage in frivolous hobbies considered valuable by the people who share those hobbies, and millions of people with worthless "educations" are now suffering for it. That's what clubs are for.

Out of many a frivolous hobby doth spring the rarest kernels of civilizational triumphs.

This is true, but society should not encourage young people to accumulate crushing debt to do hobbies.

Root problem seems to be employers should not gatekeep employment over a certificate showing you accumulated crushing debt to do academic hobbies.

No arguments on the crushing debt. A strange peculiarity for the wealthiest economy on Earth.

End that sentence with a period after debt and I'll agree entirely.

America has a possibly fatal case of capitalism.

>If you just wanted to learn Java, there are faster and cheaper methods.

I disagree, a book like Finnegan's Wake has a lot in common with Java. Think about a clean, clearly written book that tries to craft an enjoyable narrative, such as Snow Crash, that's the python of books. Now a book like Finnegan's wake, the narrative is completely impenetrable, instead the author focuses on other things like wordplay, sound play, rhythm, etc. In the same way, Java isn't so much about clearly and cleanly stating an algorithm, but more focused on the rules and regulations, terminology, the paperwork and formalities of programming. In this regard Java is more analogous to a legal tax code, but Finnegan's Wake is a good foundation for either.