Ah, I was actually thinking about art and literature, not math and science. Perhaps I'm wrong (and no disrespect to artists who genuinely know their process and value hard work), but I've felt for a while that art/literature are assumed to be fields of endeavor where you can get to the point of being called a creative genius without doing all the work required for being called such in math/science and without having to detach yourself socially. I've simply seen too many bright young people take that path without quite knowing where it leads (I myself almost took it).
Regarding math and science, I do observe that academic pursuit in those fields is undervalued in social terms (in my opinion at least). Being a logical person, I conclude that it must be due to the law of supply and demand and, and that the supply (the number of average-quality science grad students) outweighs the demand. Now you can disagree with me all you want, but a lot of middle-of-the-road grad schools I've seen are depressing places filled with kids who have no idea what to do with their lives (if they did, they probably would not be in grad school at this day and age). They would probably be much better off working for a company yet seventy percent of them can't get a U.S. visa. Now most American students in their turn aren't that interested in spending six years of their young lives in classes and labs filled with people who speak mostly Mandarin, for example, so they don't go into STEM fields either.
I really think that the practice of U.S. graduate schools to make money off foreign students without offering them visas that allow for U.S. employment is something downright awful. Either give the graduates U.S. employment/visas or don't let them into the country in the first place. I'm leaning towards the first option.
It's all supply and demand. More people joining a particular field does not mean higher prestige to people who are already there -- often it's quite the opposite.
Regarding math and science, I do observe that academic pursuit in those fields is undervalued in social terms (in my opinion at least). Being a logical person, I conclude that it must be due to the law of supply and demand and, and that the supply (the number of average-quality science grad students) outweighs the demand. Now you can disagree with me all you want, but a lot of middle-of-the-road grad schools I've seen are depressing places filled with kids who have no idea what to do with their lives (if they did, they probably would not be in grad school at this day and age). They would probably be much better off working for a company yet seventy percent of them can't get a U.S. visa. Now most American students in their turn aren't that interested in spending six years of their young lives in classes and labs filled with people who speak mostly Mandarin, for example, so they don't go into STEM fields either.
I really think that the practice of U.S. graduate schools to make money off foreign students without offering them visas that allow for U.S. employment is something downright awful. Either give the graduates U.S. employment/visas or don't let them into the country in the first place. I'm leaning towards the first option.
It's all supply and demand. More people joining a particular field does not mean higher prestige to people who are already there -- often it's quite the opposite.