If you're clumping Art into the list of "dumb things" then you agree that America is Lost: for in rejecting things of beauty you reject the ability to make something beautiful — to paraphrase a quote attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville: America is not good because she is beautiful, but beautiful because she is good.
True Artists give an alternate and imaginative view of our reality.
A BA in "Arts" is as useful to society as teats on a boar hog. College is supposed to provide focused training, in such subjects as mathematics, engineering, physics, geology. These subjects benefit and advance civilization.
A BA in art provides one with a familiarity of someone else's skills. Being able to differentiate between a Corinthian column and Corinthian leather is a waste of time, a parent's hard earned money and 4 years that would be better spent learning how to operate a punch press.
Hot Flash: Talk to a recent Arts Baccalaureate and and listen to them whine about how no one wants to hire them. They owe $70,000 in student loans and can't explain how steel is an alloy, and are unable to change a tire.
But, they would vote, again, for The Chicago Crook in a heartbeat.