Amusingly enough, my German-as-a-foreign-language teacher had a degree in Art History and made great use of it. Of course, the relevant part for her resume was that she had a Art History degree from a German university conducted in German as a US-native. It demonstrated a much higher degree of language proficiency than the average foreign-language teacher at a high school in the US and gave her classes a unique twist.
The US (although not the UK) college system values taking multiple paths early on, especially for MDs and JDs, so an Art History major isn't completely absurd. At the university I went to, pre-med was a list of classes, but you couldn't select it as a major. Most students would major in something related, like biology, to maximize the overlap in classes, but a Classics major (with a heavy focus on learning Greek and Latin to help with medical terms) was considered a rare but very viable option.
That said, I think the greatest strength of the German education system is its trade schools. The US trade school system is much more ad hoc. Most jobs/problems don't need the heavy theory of a graduate degree, and honestly I think both the US and Germany could use fewer PhDs and more people with practical skills.
The US (although not the UK) college system values taking multiple paths early on, especially for MDs and JDs, so an Art History major isn't completely absurd. At the university I went to, pre-med was a list of classes, but you couldn't select it as a major. Most students would major in something related, like biology, to maximize the overlap in classes, but a Classics major (with a heavy focus on learning Greek and Latin to help with medical terms) was considered a rare but very viable option.
That said, I think the greatest strength of the German education system is its trade schools. The US trade school system is much more ad hoc. Most jobs/problems don't need the heavy theory of a graduate degree, and honestly I think both the US and Germany could use fewer PhDs and more people with practical skills.