So Much for a Liberal Arts Degree

While we find ourselves constantly telling parents about the benefits of a liberal arts education, we know that there are those who still worry that, without a "practical," vocationally-focused education, their kids will be unemployable after graduation. These parents are among a large group of moms and dads who, throughout time, have lost plenty of sleep over their children's choice of majors. Imagine Mr. and Mrs. Turner's distress when their son, Ted, announced he would be pursuing a degree in classics. Hopefully, they calmed down a bit once he founded CNN and TBS. Below are a few people who pursued "useless" degrees, yet somehow managed to eek out a living:

Clarence Thomas (Supreme Court Justice), English

Les Moonves (CEO, CBS), Spanish

Peter Thiel (CEO, PayPal), Philosophy

Sam Palmisano (Pres/CEO, IBM), History

Carly Fiorina (Fmr. CEO, Hewlett-Packard), Medieval History and Philosophy

Henry Paulson (Fmr. Secty of the Treasury, Fmr. CEO, Goldman Sachs), English

Reid Hoffman (Co-Founder, LinkedIn), Philosophy

Howard Schultz (CEO, Starbucks), Communications

Ken Chenault (CEO, American Express), History

James Dimon (Pres/CEO, JPMorgan Chase), Psychology

Harold Varmus (Nobel Laureate in Medicine, former NIH Director, Director, National Cancer Institute), English