[Papa John]

If we are going to start letting "the market" dictate what majors we offer, why not have undergraduate degrees in Real Estate or Insurance?

I'm with you, but the pragmatic answer to your question is that real estate and insurance are industries that depend heavily on state-specific regulations and licensing.  Stanford students majoring in those areas of study would not necessarily be well-equipped to practice elsewhere outside of the state of California.

But aren't lawyers regulated and licensed by individual states? Is the Stanford Law School curriculum geared towards passing the California bar? Or is it a more general curriculum that leaves it to students to prepare on their own for whatever State bar they want to pass? I truly don't know--I was a music major :-)

My point is that these types of degrees belong in professional/vocational programs--such as a law, business or medical school--not undergraduate programs at an AAU member/liberal arts/Tier 1 research university.

On the other hand, the University of Michigan apparently disagrees with me.

To quote Steven Pinker: "As the saying goes, the more we disagree, the more chance there is that at least one of us is right."

[Papa John]

If we are going to start letting "the market" dictate what majors we offer, why not have undergraduate degrees in Real Estate or Insurance?

I'm with you, but the pragmatic answer to your question is that real estate and insurance are industries that depend heavily on state-specific regulations and licensing.  Stanford students majoring in those areas of study would not necessarily be well-equipped to practice elsewhere outside of the state of California.

But aren't lawyers regulated and licensed by individual states? Is the Stanford Law School curriculum geared towards passing the California bar? Or is it a more general curriculum that leaves it to students to prepare on their own for whatever State bar they want to pass? I truly don't know--I was a music major :-)

My point is that these types of degrees belong in professional/vocational programs--such as a law, business or medical school--not undergraduate programs at an AAU member/liberal arts/Tier 1 research university.

On the other hand, the University of Michigan apparently disagrees with me.

To quote Steven Pinker: "As the saying goes, the more we disagree, the more chance there is that at least one of us is right."