To advocate for vocational education is really to argue for the humanities

T argue for the humanities as being a worthy pursuit is fine. However when the article veers into suggesting that "ethical geography?!" and " self awareness" are missing in other disciplines is a feat of breath-taking arrogance. Physician heal thyself!

All education - and certainly higher education - ought to be about replacing an empty mind with an open and enquiring one. Learning how to think and how to learn for oneself... discipline is not relevant unless the student is already determined on learning a particular trade that requires specialised knowledge - medicine, the law, engineering, computing, languages, and so on. Even many of these can be learned in a follow-up course if not by yourself (I'd prefer my quack to have been taught rather than picked up medicine for themself!), and providing self-learning is appropriately tested to enter that trade you should be OK. I chose to study botany out of pure curiousity, then wandered into computing and am now a computer science academic. I don't often think about plants these days, but along with the ability to identify seaweed and know how plants can distinguish between up and down, they taught me how to think and how to learn, skills I use every day.